Russia vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council Resolution on Saturday that called for the immediate end to airstrikes over Syria's Aleppo city receiving condemnation from the West which argues that Moscow is facilitating more war and fighting in the country. Moscow opposed the draft because it did not adequately deal with the problem of the rebels being interwoven with al-Nusra Front, formerly Syria's al-Qaeda affiliate, under the umbrella group the Army of Conquest. The UN Envoy to Syria proposed a separate plan that would allow al-Nusra Front fighters to evacuate the area armed to make for a more tenable situation inside of the besieged eastern side of Aleppo.
This is the fifth time that Russia has vetoed a UN resolution on Syria during the five-year conflict with China joining Moscow in the previous four vetoes, but abstaining from voting on Saturday. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented that the text of the French resolution distorted the complexity of the situation on the ground leaving the false impression that Russia and Syria were aggressors when in reality the conflict in East Aleppo is mixed between moderate anti-Assad forces that have branched together with more radical al-Nusra terrorists.
The Ministry further noted that the draft resolution ignored the urgent challenge of beginning and resolving an intra-Syrian political process that could place the country on a path towards stability and peace. Russian representatives further expressed their "commitment to finding a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict" notwithstanding the move to veto the French draft United Nations Security Council resolution.
Prior to the vote, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin expressed his dismay with the French draft that he believed was poorly postulated and designed to be vetoed by Russia for the sake of scoring public relations points and instead expressed his desire that the United Nations pursue the route of supporting the UN Envoy to Syria's plan. Reiterating this point, Russia said that the authors of the French United Nations Security Council resolution draft on Syria failed to show political wisdom by intentionally ignoring Moscow's proposed amendments to it.
Vitaly Churkin went on to say before the vote that all of those attending the Security Council meeting knew that neither the French nor the Russian resolution on the Syrian crisis would be adopted. The Russian Foreign Ministry closed by appealing to the members of the United Nations Security Council that the world must not allow Syria to go the way of Iraq or Libya reminding that US-led regime change in those countries led to further instability making those nations hotbeds for terrorism and in large part contributing to the crisis in Syria
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