Russia and China have vetoed a UN Security Council proposal that would have banned the supply of helicopters to the Syrian government, and blacklisted eleven Syrian military commanders over allegations of toxic gas attacks.

The proposed resolution, put forward by Britain, France and the United States, was put to the vote of the international body on Tuesday despite an earlier pledge by Russia to use its power the quash the proposal, the seventh time it has done so since the conflict first erupted in Syria since 2011.

The nations behind the proposal criticized Russia and China for the veto.

“For my friends in Russia, this resolution is very appropriate,” said US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley after the vote. "It is a sad day on the Security Council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people. The world is definitely a more dangerous place."

Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov contended that the Western powers’ proposal was not supported by solid evidence.

"The problem is that the basis of expert work on Syria come from dubious information submitted by the armed opposition, international NGOs sympathetic to it, the media and so-called ‘Friends of Syria’,” he argued.

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“The co-sponsors [of the proposal] have chosen and odious and erroneous concept, which is totally unacceptable. The fact that the resolution wasn’t supported by six of the fifteen security council members should make the co-sponsors seriously think,” Safronkov said.

Bolivia voted against the text, while Ethiopia, Egypt and Kazakhstan abstained, according to Reuters.

Speaking from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia considers it unnecessary to impose any more penalties against the government of Bashar al-Assad.

“As for sanctions against the Syrian leadership, I think the move is totally inappropriate now,” Putin said at a news conference. “It does not help, would not help the negotiation process. It would only hurt or undermine confidence during the process.”

While the sanctions were being debated, a new round of UN-sponsored Syria peace talks between the warring sides kicked off in Geneva last week. Saying that he is not expecting a breakthrough, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said he was nonetheless determined not to lose the momentum towards a resolution.

Although the liberation of the city of Aleppo and the loss of key territories by Islamist rebels have tipped the balance in the Syrian conflict, potential disagreements could arise over the opposition’s continued insistence that the fate of the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad be settled as a precondition – something that is not currently on the table.

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Russia announced that it has asked the Syrian government to halt all military operations for the duration of the talks, while other countries were expected to deliver the same message to the rebels.

The last round of the Geneva talks was broken off nine months ago amid a sharp escalation in hostilities.

Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian government’s negotiator at the Geneva talks, warned on Saturday that Damascus will view opposition groups that refuse to condemn the deadly suicides attacks in Homs as accomplices of terrorists.

At least 50 people were killed and 24 others were injured in six suicide bombings outside military facilities in the city of Homs on Saturday, SANA news agency reported, citing Syria’s Foreign Ministry.

Al-Nusra Front terrorist group, which renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In another comment on the attack, Ja'afari said that “the terrorist explosions that hit Homs city are a message to Geneva from sponsors of terrorism, and we tell everyone that the message is received and this crime won't pass unnoticed.”</s>France, UK and US wanted sanctions over chemical weapon use – but Vladimir Putin rejects ‘totally inappropriate’ proposal

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Russia and China have vetoed a UN resolution to impose sanctions on Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons during the six-year war.

It is Russia’s seventh veto to protect the Syrian government from UN security council action. The vote was one of the first confrontations at the UN between Russia and the US since Donald Trump took control of the White House in January, pledging to build closer ties with Moscow.

Russia and China are both permanent members of the UN security council. France, the UK and the US complete the five-nation lineup. Another 10 nations are non-permanent members, elected for two-year terms by the 193 states that are members of the UN’s general assembly.

Russian president Vladimir Putin described the draft resolution on Tuesday as “totally inappropriate”.

Russia argued that the resolution – drafted by Britain, France and the US – would harm UN-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties in Geneva, which began last week.

Nine UN council members voted in favour of the resolution and Bolivia voted against, along with China and Russia. Egypt, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained.

A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by any of the five permanent members in order to be adopted. Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations, criticised Moscow following the vote.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, greets outgoing security council president and Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, Volodymyr Yelchenko, before the meeting. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

“It is a sad day on the security council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people,” she said. “The world is definitely a more dangerous place.”



Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, described the statements made against Moscow as “outrageous” and warned: “God will judge you.”



The vetoes received widespread condemnation by rights groups. Sherine Tadros, of Amnesty International, said: “By vetoing this resolution, Russia and China have displayed a callous disregard for the lives of millions of Syrians.”

French UN ambassador François Delattre said the failure by the council to act would “send a message of impunity”.

Physicians for Human Rights, an organisation that guides doctors in Syria on how to treat victims of chemical attacks, said the security council had “shown itself impotent to halt the terrible scourge of chemical weapons”.

Its statement added: “Shame on the Russian Federation, China and all those who enable the Syrian government’s attempts to escape accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Vladimir Safronkov, centre, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, keeps his hand lowered during the vote. Photograph: Bebeto Matthews/AP

Western powers put forward the resolution in response to the results of an investigation by the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).



The international inquiry found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.



British UN ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the council before the vote: “This is about taking a stand when children are poisoned, it’s that simple.”

Chlorine’s use as a weapon is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in 2013.

White House condemns use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces Read more

If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning lungs and drowning victims in body fluids.

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government has denied its forces have used chemical weapons. Russia has questioned the results of the UN/OPCW inquiry and has long said there was not enough proof for the security council to take any action.

The draft resolution would have banned the sale or supply of helicopters to the Syrian government because the UN/OPCW inquiry found Syrian government forces had used helicopters to drop barrel bombs containing chlorine gas.

It also proposed targeted sanctions – a travel ban and asset freeze – on 11 Syrian military commanders and officials, as well as on 10 government and related entities.</s>Russia on Tuesday cast its seventh veto to protect the Syrian government from United Nations Security Council action, blocking a bid by Western powers to impose sanctions over accusations of chemical weapons attacks during the six-year Syrian conflict.

China backed Russia and cast its sixth veto on Syria. Russia had said the vote on the resolution, drafted by France, Britain and the United States, would harm U.N.-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties in Geneva, which began last week.

Nine council members voted in favor of the resolution, Bolivia voted against, while Egypt, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the draft resolution on Tuesday as “totally inappropriate.”

“For my friends in Russia, this resolution is very appropriate,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council after the vote.

“It is a sad day on the Security Council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people. The world is definitely a more dangerous place,” she said.

The vote was one of the first confrontations at the United Nations between Russia and the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, pledging to build closer ties with Moscow.

Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov described the statements made against Moscow in the Security Council as “outrageous” and said “God will judge you.”

Western powers put forward the resolution in response to the results of an investigation by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The international inquiry found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.

British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told the council before the vote: “This is about taking a stand when children are poisoned, it’s that simple.”

Chlorine’s use as a weapon is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in 2013. If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning lungs and drowning victims in body fluids.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has denied its forces have used chemical weapons. Russia has questioned the results of the U.N./OPCW inquiry and long said there was not enough proof for the Security Council to take any action.

French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said the failure by the council to act would “send a message of impunity.”

The draft resolution would have banned the sale or supply of helicopters to the Syrian government because the U.N./OPCW inquiry found Syrian government forces had used helicopters to drop barrel bombs containing chlorine gas.

It also proposed targeted sanctions - a travel ban and asset freeze - on 11 Syrian military commanders and officials, as well as on 10 government and related entities.</s>A general views shows a severely damaged street in the northwestern border town of al-Bab on February 24, 2017 after Turkish-backed rebels announced the capture of the town from the Islamic State (IS) group a day earlier (AFP Photo/Nazeer al-Khatib)

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a Western-backed UN resolution that would have imposed sanctions on Syria over chemical weapons use, in the first clash at the Security Council since US President Donald Trump took office.

The twin vetoes came as peace talks in Geneva showed no signs of progress on ending the nearly six-year war in Syria.

It was the seventh time that Russia, Syria's top military ally, has used its veto power to shield the Damascus regime. China has backed Moscow by using its veto six times on Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned ahead of the vote that imposing sanctions on Syria was "completely inappropriate" while talks were ongoing in Geneva on ending the war.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley shot back: "This resolution is very appropriate."

"It is a sad day on the Security Council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people."

"The world is definitely a more dangerous place," she told the council after the measure was rejected.

The resolution drafted by Britain, France and the United States won nine votes in favor, while three countries opposed it -- Bolivia, China and Russia. Egypt, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained.

UN resolutions require nine positive votes and no veto to be adopted.

The resolution would have put 11 Syrians, mainly military commanders, and 10 entities linked to chemical attacks in 2014 and 2015 on a UN sanctions blacklist.

It included a ban on the sale of helicopters and of chemical agents to the Syrian armed forces or the government.

A UN-led investigation concluded in October that the Syrian air force had dropped chlorine barrel-bombs from helicopters on three opposition-held villages in 2014 and 2015.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the vote was a "moment of truth" for the council, arguing that chemical weapons use was a "negation of all civilization."

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault took aim at Russia, saying it bore a "heavy responsibility toward the Syrian people and humanity as a whole."

"The Security Council's own investigation has found attacks were committed by the Syrian regime and Daesh on the Syrian people. Despite support from the majority of the Security Council, Russia, along with China, has chosen to prevent action," Johnson said in a statement.

The joint panel by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) also found that Islamic State jihadists used mustard gas in an attack in 2015.

The vote marked the first major council action by the new Trump administration, which is seeking warmer ties with Russia.

The United States has backed rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and leads a military coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

Britain and France had circulated the proposed measure in December and the new US administration joined as a co-sponsor of the draft resolution this month, indicating that it was ready to confront Russia on Syria.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov echoed Putin's view that imposing sanctions would have undermined peace talks and described the draft resolution as a "provocation" by the Western "troika".

Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi argued that sanctions were premature and that the UN-OPCW panel should be allowed to complete its investigations.

"At present, investigations are still ongoing and therefore it is too early to reach a final conclusion," Liu told the council.

Aside from China and Russia, Britain, France and the United States are the other veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons in the war that has killed 310,000 people since March 2011.

UN-brokered talks that opened on Thursday in Geneva ran into hurdles after Russia insisted that counter-terrorism be added to the agenda -- putting pressure on opposition groups with ties to Islamist fighters.

Putin -- whose military intervention in Syria helped turn the tables in favor of Assad -- lamented that the negotiations in Switzerland are "not going as smoothly as hoped."</s>The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Tuesday on a bid by Western powers to ban the supply of helicopters to the Syrian government and to blacklist Syrian military commanders over accusations of toxic gas attacks, despite a pledge by Russia to veto the move.

The Security Council showdown – pitting Syrian ally Russia against the United States, France, Britain and others – comes amid U.N.-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties in Geneva, which began last week.

A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted.

Russia has vetoed six Security Council resolutions on Syria since the conflict started in 2011. China joined Moscow in vetoing five resolutions. It was unclear how Beijing planned to vote on Tuesday.

Britain and France first circulated the draft resolution to the 15-member council in late December in response to the results of an investigation by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The international inquiry found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.

British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Monday that the Security Council needed to send a “strong, clear message that the international community means business on preventing the use of these abhorrent weapons.”

Chlorine’s use as a weapon is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in 2013. If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning lungs and drowning victims in body fluids.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government has denied its forces have used chemical weapons. Russia has questioned the results of the U.N./OPCW inquiry and long said there was not enough proof for the Security Council to take any action.

Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, told reporters on Friday that Moscow would veto the draft resolution.

The draft text seeks to ban the sale or supply of helicopters to the Syrian government because the U.N./OPCW inquiry found Syrian government forces had used helicopters to drop barrel bombs containing chlorine gas.

The draft resolution also proposes targeted sanctions – a travel ban and asset freeze – on 11 Syrian military commanders and officials, as well as on 10 government and related entities accused of developing and producing chemical weapons and the missiles to deliver them.

Russia and other United Nations Security Council members should support a proposed resolution that would impose sanctions on Syrian government officials responsible for chemical attacks, Human Rights Watch said today.

“The investigation’s clear findings that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons demand a response from the Security Council,” said Ole Solvang, deputy emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “Vetoing the proposed resolution would undermine the most widely accepted weapons ban in all of international law.”

Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention on October 14, 2013, after chemical attacks near Damascus, most likely carried out by government forces, killed hundreds of civilians on August 21, 2013. The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the use of chemical weapons as well as the use of the toxic properties of common chemicals such as chlorine to kill or injure.

In April 2014, OPCW established a fact-finding mission to investigate reports that Syrian government helicopters had dropped improvised munitions containing chlorine on opposition-controlled territory. The fact-finding mission, which did not have a mandate to identify those responsible, concluded that chlorine had most likely been used as a weapon in Syria.

Human Rights Watch published reports on the Syrian government’s use of chlorine in May 2014, April 2015, June 2015, September 2016, and February 2017. In the most recent report, Human Rights Watch found that the Syrian government forces’ use of chlorine in late 2016 appeared to be coordinated with the overall military strategy to retake Aleppo.</s>Russia on Tuesday cast its seventh veto to protect the Syrian government from United Nations Security Council action, blocking a bid by Western powers to impose sanctions over accusations of chemical weapons attacks during the six-year Syrian conflict.

China backed Russia and cast its sixth veto on Syria. Russia had said the vote on the resolution, drafted by France and Britain, would harm UN-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties in Geneva, which began last week.

The defeated resolution would also have banned all countries from supplying Syria's government with helicopters, which investigators have determined were used in chemical attacks.
• Thousands killed in mass hangings in Syrian prison since 2011, Amnesty says

Nine council members voted in favor of the resolution. Bolivia voted against the text, while Ethiopia, Egypt and Kazakhstan abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted.

The resolution got the minimum number of votes.

The resolution followed a joint investigation by the UN and the international chemical weapons watchdog that determined the Syrian government was behind at least three attacks involving chlorine gas and the Islamic State extremist group was responsible for at least one involving mustard gas.</s>The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Tuesday on a bid by Western powers to ban the supply of helicopters to the Syrian government and to blacklist Syrian military commanders over accusations of toxic gas attacks, despite a pledge by Russia to veto the move.

The Security Council showdown - pitting Syrian ally Russia against the United States, France, Britain and others - comes amid U.N.-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties in Geneva, which began last week.

A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted.

Russia has vetoed six Security Council resolutions on Syria since the conflict started in 2011. China joined Moscow in vetoing five resolutions. It was unclear how Beijing planned to vote on Tuesday.

Britain and France first circulated the draft resolution to the 15-member council in late December in response to the results of an investigation by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The international inquiry found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.

British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Monday that the Security Council needed to send a "strong, clear message that the international community means business on preventing the use of these abhorrent weapons."

Chlorine's use as a weapon is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in 2013. If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning lungs and drowning victims in body fluids.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government has denied its forces have used chemical weapons. Russia has questioned the results of the U.N./OPCW inquiry and long said there was not enough proof for the Security Council to take any action.

Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, told reporters on Friday that Moscow would veto the draft resolution.

The draft text seeks to ban the sale or supply of helicopters to the Syrian government because the U.N./OPCW inquiry found Syrian government forces had used helicopters to drop barrel bombs containing chlorine gas.

The draft resolution also proposes targeted sanctions - a travel ban and asset freeze - on 11 Syrian military commanders and officials, as well as on 10 government and related entities accused of developing and producing chemical weapons and the missiles to deliver them.</s>Russia says it will veto a draft U.N. Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on 21 Syrian individuals, companies and organizations allegedly involved in chemical weapons attacks in the war-torn country.

The Security Council is due to vote Tuesday on the proposal drawn up by France, the United Kingdom and the United States which would also ban the supply of helicopters, which investigators say have been used in the attacks, to the Syrian government.

It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference Tuesday in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, that the draft resolution is “totally inappropriate.”

"It would undermine trust in the negotiating process. Russia will not support any new sanctions against the Syrian leadership,” said Putin, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. His comments followed a meeting with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev.

The draft resolution follows a joint investigation by the U.N. and the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that said the Syrian air force and the Islamic State used chemical weapons during the 6-year-old civil war.

The report, published in Aug. 2016, said there was “sufficient evidence” that the air force twice attacked Syrian civilians with chlorine gas and the Islamic State used “sulphur-mustard” gas between 2014 and 2015.

At least 450,000 Syrians are estimated to have been killed and about 5 million have fled the country since the war started in 2011.</s>UNITED NATIONS - Russia and China have vetoed a United Nations resolution that would have placed sanctions on Syria in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks.

The measure, backed by the Western powers of Britain, France and the United States, would have imposed sanctions on 21 Syrians, organizations and companies that were allegedly involved in chemical attacks in 2014 and 2015. Nine council members voted in favour of the resolution, drafted by France and Britain. Bolivia voted against the text, while Ethiopia, Egypt and Kazakhstan abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by permanent members - the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China - to be adopted. The resolution would have also banned all countries from supplying the Syrian government with helicopters, which were used in the attacks.

The measure was drafted after a joint investigation by the UN and a global chemical weapons watchdog determined the Syrian government carried out at least three attacks involving chlorine gas. The groups also found that the Islamic State extremist group was behind at least one attack involving the use of mustard gas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the draft resolution on Tuesday as “totally inappropriate.”

“For my friends in Russia, this resolution is very appropriate,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the 15-member council after the vote.

“It is a sad day on the Security Council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people. The world is definitely a more dangerous place,” she said.

The vote was one of the first confrontations at the United Nations between Russia and the United States since US President Donald Trump took office in January, pledging to build closer ties with Moscow.

Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov called the resolution “one-sided”, and described the statements made against Moscow in the Security Council as “outrageous” and said “God will judge you.”

The resolution would have put 11 Syrians, mainly military commanders, and 10 entities linked to chemical attacks in 2014 and 2015 on a UN sanctions blacklist. The joint panel of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) also found that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters used mustard gas in an attack in 2015.The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons in the war that has killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced nearly half the country’s population since 2011.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday Ankara wanted to work with its allies to capture the Islamic State bastion of Raqa in Syria, but without the involvement of Syrian Kurdish militia.

“If our allies are really sincere, we tell them: We will act with you so long as we cleanse Raqa from Daesh and give it back to its original owners,” Erdogan said at an Istanbul airport before leaving for Pakistan. Daesh is an acronym for the Islamic State (IS) group. But he made clear Turkey would not fight alongside Syrian Kurdish fighters, who are viewed by Ankara as “terrorists”.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), are seen by Washington as the most effective force in the fight against IS but are condemned by Turkey.

Erdogan said Turkey clearly told Washington it would never cooperate with PYD or YPG.

“It is certainly not possible for us to agree with or act together with PYD or YPG,” he said.

Last August, the Turkish army launched a unilateral military campaign inside Syria, backing opposition fighters to clean its border from IS jihadists as well as Syrian Kurdish militia.

Compared to the lightning advance at the onset of its “Euphrates Shield” operation, the Turkish army sustained increasing casualties to capture Al-Bab.

The strategic town, just 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of the Turkish border, was the jihadists’ last stronghold in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.

On Friday, the Turkish military said together with allied Syrian rebels it had completely taken Al-Bab from jihadists.

Erdogan, who met with Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar on Monday, said Al-Bab operation was “completed.”

“But this doesn’t mean the process is over,” he said, adding that if Ankara reached an agreement with coalition forces, steps would be taken in Raqa.

He said Turkey was also talking to Moscow because “our solidarity with Russia is also important.”

Erdogan said Turkey’s Syria campaign had cost the jihadists a “very serious price,” saying more than 3,000 jihadists had been killed throughout the operation.</s>The Trump administration’s new US ambassador to the United Nations strongly denounced Russia and China for vetoing a resolution against Syria on Tuesday.

The latest attempt to punish Syrian regime leaders failed after the two permanent members voted against a resolution to impose sanctions for Damascus’ use of chemical weapons, the first vetoes by Russia and China before US Ambassador Nikki Haley.

“Russia and China made an outrageous and indefensible choice today,” Haley said, speaking in the Security Council chamber after the vote. “It is a sad day on the Security Council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people.”

She continued, “The world is definitely a more dangerous place. Today, the international community can look no further than the Security Council for contributing to that.”

The veto was the seventh time Russia has blocked a Security Council resolution aimed at the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the past five years, protecting its Syrian ally from any diplomatic action. An international investigation found chemical weapons were used by government forces.

Before the veto, French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said, “It’s a moment of truth.”

He demanded the council act, asking, “Who couldn’t condemn today those attacking innocent women and children … with chemical weapons?”

The vote was 9 in favor, 3 against as Bolivia joined Russia and China, and 3 abstentions, from Egypt, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia.

The resolution would have condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria, a violation of international law, and placed UN sanctions on 21 Syrian scientists, military commanders and entities alleged to be involved in their use.

It also outlined an embargo on the sale of certain chemical substances as well as materials that could be used to transport the weapons, including helicopters.

Russia’s representative defended its veto — the first since the unexpected death last week of longtime Moscow ambassador Vitaly Churkin — calling it “an attempt to retard and undermine the current political and diplomatic efforts” in Syria “by the Western troika of permanent Security Council members.”

Earlier in the day, Russia’s state-run news agency, Tass, quoted President Vladmir Putin as saying the new sanctions were “totally inappropriate” as peace talks were underway.

The resolution referenced reports from a UN commission, created at the behest of Security Council diplomats, including Russia, that concluded the Syrian government had dropped devices with toxic chemicals from helicopters on three occasions in 2014 and 2015.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov questioned the findings of the report, based on, he said, “suspicious” and “sympathetic” sources.

Countries calling for the resolution’s approval used graphic descriptions of victims of the chemical weapons attacks in blaming Russia for supporting the Assad regime. Those statements seemed to rankle Russia and China even more.

“Having to do with the outrageous statements made against Russia, China and other states, God shall judge you and they will remain on your conscience, these statements,” Safronkov said.

Added Chinese UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi: “Certain countries are really at an end in terms of rhetoric.”

“[The draft resolution] was forced through to a vote while council members still had serious differences. This is no way helpful to finding a solution to issue of chemical weapons and peace talks in Geneva,” Jieyi said.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft committed to exploring alternative paths towards action on Syria in the wake of a repeated failure.

“It is very difficult to see how the Security Council can ever play our rightful role in setting up mechanisms that will allow accountability in Syria given that Russia now for the seventh time has backed a brutal dictator rather than backing justice and accountability and the Syrian people,” Rycroft said.
Russia and China veto a draft United Nations Security Council resolution sponsored by France, the United Kingdom and the United States calling for sanctions against the Syrian government and President Bashar al-Assad over allegations that the government used chemical weapons in the conflict.