Russia has accused the West of trying to derail the Syria peace talks and revert to the military scenario of regime change in the violence-torn country.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blasted a Western-backed draft resolution in U.N. Security Council on the humanitarian crisis in Syria at as “absolutely one-sided and detached from reality.”
“One gets the impression that the humanitarian issue, just as the issue of chemical weapons not so long ago, is being used to provide pretexts for subverting the political process [and] blaming the regime in Damascus for everything in order to return to the military scenario of regime change,” Mr Lavrov said after talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtame Lamamra on Tuesday.
“We think this is absolutely counter-productive and expect everybody to concentrate on supporting Geneva-2,” he added.
The Russian Foreign Minister spoke as the second round of Geneva-2 peace talks, which opened on Monday, tottered on the verge of collapse, with the warring sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire and attacking aid convoys near the besieged town of Holms.
Mr Lavrov said he would be ready to consider a Security Council draft only if it was not about “undermining the Geneva process [and] levelling one-sided accusations against the regime.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that the Security Council draft tabled by Australia, Jordan and Luxembourg was “beyond redemption” and that Russia would veto it if it was put to a vote.
Over the past two years Russia has blocked three Western-backed resolutions censuring the Syrian government.
