Russia on Tuesday once again proved that even the most heinous crime will not force her to act against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The UN Security Council, it vetoed the resolution, calling to punish Syria for using chemical weapons.
The decision of the Kremlin has the active support of President Vladimir Putin, Syrian military in the ongoing for six years of the war, which killed half a million people.
Since 2011, Mr. Putin seven times defended Mr. Assad from international condemnation or sanctions, but China has often followed the example of Russia.
Although Moscow beforehand made it clear that it will veto the resolution prepared by Britain and France, were right in insisting on the vote and thereby demonstrating the moral bankruptcy of Russia.
If approved, this resolution, supported by Britain, France and the United States would impose sanctions on some Syrian military and related agencies for dropping chlorine-filled barrel bombs on under the control of rebel territory in 2014 and in 2015. The use of chlorine as a weapon is prohibited by international Treaty, which was signed by the Assad government in 2013 and which is part of the transaction concluded by the United States and Russia. Its purpose was to force Mr. Assad to relinquish his stockpile of chemical weapons.
Although a significant portion of these stocks were destroyed, UN observers later concluded that the Syrian government has violated the terms of the transaction. In addition, the recently published report by the organization Human Rights Watch suggests that the Syrian military last fall systematically dumped filled with chlorine bombs and it happened in the last week of battles with opposition forces before the capture of Aleppo.
Although Russia most actively participated in the discussion on Syria in the UN Security Council, it rejected the resolution as “politically biased”, and also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that her concerns about the language of the draft resolution have not been taken into account. If such concern was warranted, other members of the Security Council undoubtedly would make the appropriate changes in order to ensure the vote Russia. The argument of Mr. Putin regarding the fact that the resolution interferes with the negotiations on the cease-fire between the Syrian government and the rebels, is not convincing.
Given the sympathies of the President of the United States against Mr. Putin, the decision for Mr. trump to vote for this resolution is unexpected and encouraging. The U.S. permanent representative to the UN, Nikki Haley (Nikki Haley) has taken a tough stance and called the attack using chemical weapons in Syria “barbaric”. She also accused Russia and China that they “put their Syrian friends and the Assad regime above the interests of our global security.” This happens for many years, and no signs of an end to the catastrophe in Syria has not yet seen.
