A Russian resolution calling for a separation of moderate and extremist forces in Syria but making no mention of a bombing halt in the besieged city of Aleppo has been defeated in the U.N. Security Council.
The draft, put forward by Russia late Friday, failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes required.
In Saturday’s vote, the draft resolution got four “yes” votes, nine “no” votes and two abstentions.
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft called the resolution “a sham” that would do nothing to protect civilians being killed in Aleppo.
The U.N. Security Council will vote Saturday on rival Syria resolutions sponsored by France and Russia and both are virtually certain to be vetoed, leaving the war-ravaged country and the besieged city of Aleppo engulfed in conflict and key powers deeply divided.
Russia’s last minute introduction of a rival resolution on Friday afternoon took Western supporters of the French draft by surprise.
Several diplomats privately called it a brilliant move by Moscow because it will force Western powers to veto as well.
So instead of Russia alone being put in a negative spotlight for vetoing the French resolution demanding an end to the bombing campaign by Syrian and Russian aircraft in Aleppo, the Western powers are highly likely to veto the Russian draft because it makes no mention of a bombing halt.
As a result, the votes Saturday afternoon, first on the French draft and then on the Russian proposal, are expected to exacerbate tensions between Moscow and the West over the Syrian conflict that has raged for more than five years, killing over 300,000 people.
The rival resolutions can also be defeated if they don’t get the minimum nine “yes” votes in the 15-member Security Council.
Since the collapse of the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire two weeks ago, the situation in Syria has dramatically deteriorated, with both countries escalating their rhetoric and actions.
Russia’s military warned the U.S. on Thursday against striking the Syrian army, stressing that Russian air defense weapons in Syria stand ready to fend off any attack.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stepped up the West’s attack Friday morning, calling for Russian and Syrian military strikes against civilians and medical facilities in Syria to be investigated as war crimes.
France circulated its draft resolution a week ago, saying it wanted the council to unite behind it. But negotiations never got Russia on board and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s visit to Moscow this week didn’t either.
Russia, a close Syria ally, has opposed any grounding of its warplanes, which have been supporting President Bashar Assad’s military campaign.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called the French draft, which demands an immediate end to all bombing and military flights over Aleppo, “very hastily put together.”
“I frankly believe that this is designed not to make progress” in ending the current stalemate “but to cause a Russian veto,” he told reporters after U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura briefed the Security Council behind closed doors on Friday morning.
Churkin, the current council president, said it was “unprecedented” that the 15-member council would ask a permanent member to limit its activities, in this case requiring the Russian military to stop flights.
Asked if Russia would veto the French draft, Churkin said he never uses the word until he gets instructions from Moscow.