Russia to oppose UN General Assembly resolution on Syria

Russia will not support a UN General Assembly draft resolution on Syria proposed by Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as it “intrudes into the UN Security Council’s prerogatives,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Thursday, RIA Novosti reports.

“Moscow believes this document in its current form does not contribute to the stabilization of the Syrian conflict and halting the violence, which is why Russia will not support it,” the Ministry said.

The draft resolution calls for the Syrian government to refrain from using chemical weapons, to halt violence and bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations in Syria. The document, obtained by RIA Novosti, does not however demand that President Bashar al-Assad step down, a point which was included in a previous version of the draft.

Russia said the resolution is “one-sided and unbalanced” as it “places responsibility only on the Syrian authorities, while the opposition is outside the international community’s demands.”