Russian Deputy Foreign Minister: Moscow will not support discussion of draft resolution on Syria at UN General Assembly

Moscow has said that it would not support discussion of the draft
resolution on Syria at the UN General Assembly, ITAR-TASS reports with
reference to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian
Federation, Gennady Gatilov. "We cannot support the transfer of the Syrian
issue to the UN General Assembly with the same unbalanced content of the
draft resolution," he said.

Last night, Saudi Arabia provided members of the UN General Assembly with a new draft resolution. The draft plan supports the draft
resolution proposed by the League of Arab States, which, inter alia, called for the resignation of the government of President Bashar al-Assad. It appealed to both sides of the conflict to stop violence, but blames the
current government for the continuation of massive and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

In general, experts state that the Saudi project follows the draft
resolution which was put to a vote at the UN Security Council on February 4,
but was blocked by Russia and China. On February 10 the State Duma adopted
a statement on the situation in Syria. Russian MPs cautioned against
repeating the scenario of Libyan foreign intervention. The document was
prepared by the Committee on Foreign Affairs with the support of all Duma
factions.