Moscow rules out US backed draft resolution on Damascus

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/230753.html

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov says Moscow is against an ‘unbalanced’ US-backed UN draft resolution against Syria.

"We cannot agree with the draft resolution in the form it is being presented in today. The text of the resolution under discussion is unbalanced," he said on Friday.

"Its main problem is the absence of a simultaneous call on all sides to take practical steps in the context of ceasing fire," Gatilov added.

Moscow was receiving reports that the UN Security Council intended to put the resolution up for a vote at a meeting on Monday, according to the Russian official.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011.

A large number of civilians and security forces have been killed in the violence in recent months.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

The Western states and the Syrian opposition, however, accuse the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of killing people.

Earlier, Syrian armed groups rejected a proposal by UN-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, to renounce violence.

Anan on Thursday called for finding a way of implementing political reforms in the country.

Russia and China vetoed two previous UN draft resolutions on Syria.

Moscow has asserted that the unrest should be resolved through negotiations between Damascus and the Syrian opposition. Beijing has also declared that it maintains an unbiased position on the situation in Syria and is trying to resolve the issue through dialog with all the involved parties.