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04Aug12
Russian ambassador criticizes UN resolution on Syria
Russia regrets the passage of a resolution on Syria by the UN General Assembly, as the document fuels the confrontational approaches towards resolution of the crisis, Russia's Ambassador at the UN, Vitaly Churkin said Friday.
"The Russian delegation regrets the fact that the General Assembly has adopted a resolution, which cannot but fuel the confrontational approaches to the solution of the Syrian crisis and doesn't facilitate the efforts to bring the parties to the conflict to the platform of a dialogue and a search for peaceful ways of resolving the crisis," Churkin said as he took the floor at the 66th session of the General Assembly.
"The resolution is damaging, as it runs counter to the efforts to implement a plan designed by Kofi Annan /a special envoy of the UN and the Arab League/ and the Geneva agreements of the Action Group and disrupts the chances for launching a process of peace settlement steered by the Syrians themselves," he said.
Churkin said the Annan plan and the agreements on dispelling the crisis that were reached June 30 at a conference of foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and the countries neighboring Syria "retain significance as guidelines for a peaceful resolution of the Syrian problem."
Friday, the Assembly passed a draft resolution demanding that the Syrian government stop using heavy weaponry and pull the troops out of urban areas.
Russia, Belarus, Venezuela, India, Cuba, the South African Republic, and a number of other countries spoke vehemently against the document.
Ambassador Churkin said that by passing the resolution the General Assembly neglected the UN's procedural norms.
"In violation of the UN Charter, the resolution intrudes in the sphere of competence of the UN Security Council, which continues taking care of the Syrian problem," said Churkin.
He criticized some claims of the resolution authors who said in their document that the Council "is unable to react efficaciously to the Syrian crisis."
"The Council reaches consensus when it deals with politically verified and balanced decisions and they are implemented if the Council members work in a tight contact with one another and don't look for loopholes to evade the coordinated frameworks and patterns of Syrian settlement," Churkin said.
He voiced regret over Kofi Annan's decision to resign from the position of the special representative upon the expiry of his current duties August 31.
"We hope an appropriate replacement for this highly experienced diplomat and politician will be found and Mr. Annan will continue implementing the UN mandate with maximum result until August 31," Churkin said.
[Source: Itar Tass, United Nations, 04Aug12]
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