Putin accuses France, US of provoking Russian veto on Syria resolution

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused France and the United States of deliberately provoking Moscow's veto on a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution on Syria.

Russia vetoed on Saturday a France-sponsored draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for an end of air raids against the Syrian city of Aleppo, and offered its own draft which was also not adopted by the UNSC.

"The resolution has been thrown in not for it to be passed. Knowing our position and not discussing our proposals with us, they meant to obtain this veto," Putin told an investment forum in Moscow.

Putin said that by doing so, supporters of the draft resolution were trying to aggravate the situation.

He revealed that prior to presenting the resolution to the UNSC, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault came to Moscow and exposed the contents of the document to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov said that Russia would not vote against the resolution provided Russian amendments were incorporated, Putin said.

According to Putin, Moscow was not satisfied with the fact that the French draft laid all the blame for the situation "exclusively on the Syrian authorities," and that Paris and Washington "accused Russia of all deadly sins."

But he added that Russia was still ready to work with any partners including France and Europe on the Syrian problem.

Refuting Western accusations that Russia was responsible for bombing a humanitarian convoy in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sept. 19, Putin said "it was one of the terrorist groups that attacked the convoy," and "the Americans are aware of it."
 [Xinhua/china.org.cn]
12/10/16