Russia Faces New Pressure on Syria at UN as Clinton Meets Lavrov for Talks

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, center, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pose for a photo at the United Nations in New York. 

Πηγή: Bloomberg
By Flavia Krause-Jackson
March 12 2012

Russia faces a renewed attack at the United Nations today over its protection of Syria after President Bashar al-Assad rejected peace proposals by UN envoy Kofi Annan and persevered in a deadly crackdown on protesters.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, will both address the UN Security Council this morning with clashing views on how to tackle a year-old uprising. While the U.S. administration has said Assad must go, Russia has vetoed two draft resolutions in the past five months seeking to hold Assad accountable and support a political transition.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, center, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pose for a photo at the United Nations in New York. Photographer: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

“Russia may try to find a face-saving compromise with the U.S. to avoid another fallout in the Security Council,” said Lilit Gevorgyan, a Russia analyst at IHS Global Insight in London, in an e-mail. “Still, at this stage it will be damaging for Russia’s image to abandon its position.”

The gathering of the world’s top diplomats in New York follows the failed mission to Syria over the weekend by Annan, another sign that the international community is running out of options over how to stop the violence.

More than 7,500 people have died since anti-government protests started in March 2011, according to UN estimates. The turmoil has sent the value of the Syrian pound plummeting.

Annan, a former UN secretary-general, met twice with Assad, who rejected overtures to talk with opposition groups he labeled terrorists.

At least 108 people were killed yesterday by government forces, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said on its website. Al Arabiya reported 51 people died in Syria today, mostly in the central city of Homs, scenes of some of the worst massacres.

Clinton, Lavrov Talk

Seeking a breakthrough on Syria with the Russians, Clinton will meet with Lavrov later today. It’s their first meeting since Feb. 3, when Clinton failed to convince Russia not to veto a second draft resolution condemning Assad.

Russia, which sells weapons to Syria, is facing growing international pressure to sever ties with a Soviet-era ally. Russia’s only military base outside the former Soviet Union is a naval maintenance and supply center in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea.

There are few indications that the Russia and the Western allies are closer to narrowing their differences. On March 9, negotiations broke down over a proposed U.S.-drafted resolution that “demands an immediate halt to all forms of violence in Syria.” That was the third attempt to get the UN’s decision- making body to agree on action on Syria.

Arab Spring

Annan cautioned Assad yesterday against ignoring the democratic changes of the “Arab Spring” in the region that led to the toppling of leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. He told reporters he cited an African proverb to the Syrian president: “You cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail.”

Al Jazeera television reported women and children were being butchered in the Karam Al-Zaitoun neighborhood of Homs. Video on Al Jazeera showed a room filled with dead children covered with blankets, their necks showing signs of knife wounds.

The Syrian National Council, in a statement posted on its Facebook page, denounced the “grisly crime” in Homs and called on the UN Security Council to take the necessary measures to stop all kinds of “genocide.”

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said the images from Homs were of “crimes committed by the armed terrorist groups who kidnapped and killed civilians in Homs.” It said those groups escalate “their crimes ahead of UN Security Council sessions to elicit anti-Syria stands.”

Syria opposition dismisses Assad assurances

Areas of the city of Homs have been heavily shelled for days, witnesses say

Πηγή: BBC
Feb 8 2012

Syria's opposition has dismissed assurances that President Bashar al-Assad is committed to ending the violence sweeping the country.

Mr Assad told visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov he was prepared to co-operate with plans for stability.

But Syrian government forces have continued pounding the city of Homs and other parts of the country where opposition is strong.

The US said it was not sure what the purpose of Mr Lavrov's visit was.

Following the talks in Damascus on Tuesday, Mr Lavrov called for a dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition.

"We have every reason to believe that the signal that we've brought here to move along in a more active manner along all directions has been heard," he said.

"In particular, President Assad assured [us] that he is fully committed to the task of a cessation of violence, from whatever source it comes."

Russia must realise that betting everything on Assad is a recipe for failure, not just for Russia's interests in Syria but for the stability of the region and for Syria's future”Jay CarneyWhite House spokesman

Mr Lavrov called for a solution based on an Arab League initiative from last November, but gave no indication that Russia backed the league's more recent call for Mr Assad to step down.

The official Syrian news agency Sana later quoted Mr Assad as saying he "welcomed any efforts toward a solution to the crisis".

But opposition leaders said continuing bloodshed meant it was too late for Mr Assad to offer compromises.

"It is impossible for Assad to govern after bombarding his own cities and towns," opposition leader-in-exile Kamal al-Labwani told Reuters.

"He is escalating the use of his military might either to sink Syria into chaos or to improve his negotiating position."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US was not sure what the goals of Mr Lavrov's visit to Damascus had been.

Last week Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution that backed a new Arab League plan for Syria. The plan involved Mr Assad handing power to a deputy who would oversee a transition of power.

Moscow said the draft would have forced regime change on Syria.

Since then, Syria has become increasingly isolated.

On Tuesday, Gulf Arab states said they would expel Syrian ambassadors and recall their envoys from Damascus.

The US closed its embassy in Syria on Monday, and several European countries have recalled their ambassadors.

In Homs, hundreds of people are reported to have died in days of heavy shelling. At least 95 people were killed on Monday and another 15 on Tuesday, activists say.

The government insists it is confronting "terrorist groups" in the city and will continue until "order" is restored.

Continuing violence against protesters has also been reported in other parts of Syria.

Activists said tanks bombarded the town of Zabadani, about 30kms (19 miles) north-west of Damascus, on Tuesday.

President Assad and Sergei Lavrov held talks in Damascus

Witnesses also reported clashes between government and rebel forces in Hama, another stronghold of anti-Assad sentiment.

Syria heavily restricts access to foreign journalists and the reports cannot be independently verified.

Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began last March.

The UN stopped estimating the death toll in Syria after it passed 5,400 in January, saying it was too difficult to confirm.

President Assad's government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed.

Defiant Russia Hails Syria Trip's Success

Russia has been quick to call its foreign minister's trip to Syria a success.

Πηγή: IBC
Feb 7 2012

Sergei Lavrov said his meeting with President al Assad was "very useful".

Back in Moscow, state media was keen to hail the fanfare welcome given to Mr Lavrov.

It reported Russian flags being held aloft as delighted Syrians shouted: "Thank you, Russia!"

Others have viewed the trip with less optimism and more scepticism.

Boxes were ticked: Mr Lavrov said President Assad is committed to stopping violence, is happy for the Arab League to get more involved and repeated his claim that he is ready to set a date for a referendum on a new constitution. Problem solved?

Andrei Kortunov from the New Eurasia Foundation in Moscow says it is too soon to judge.

"Russia was looking for a face-saving operation," he told Sky News. "We can't make conclusions yet over whether they have done that. The test will be whether they can bring both sides together.

"This seems unlikely after all the blood that has been spilt, all the hatred, but if negotiations do take place it will be seen as a big diplomatic victory for Russia."

Another analyst in Moscow, Sergei Markov, told Sky News the latest UN resolution on Syria is seen as a Saudi Arabian-drafted resolution on Iran, meaning Russia was not solely using its veto on the Syria issue.

He also likened the claims that Mr Assad is killing his people to the claims that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

What may seem like an extreme notion gives some insight into how the whole situation is being viewed in Russia: the West once again meddling in other countries' business for its own gain.

In wielding their vetoes on the latest UN resolution, Russia and China are exercising a now-established obstruction tactic.

There seems to be a strategic understanding that they will stand defiant together against the West, backing each others' interests to avoid looking isolated.

To pass a resolution, the West has to appease one of the two - usually the more bullish Russia - especially on issues like Iran.

According to Andrei Kortunov, it is a partnership that could go sour.

"Russia and China backed each other because they would feel uncomfortable being the only ones to veto," he explained.

"It remains to be seen whether this will develop as a strategic alliance.

"We've yet to see what price they'll have to pay for their decision. They may be forced to change their minds."

Russia says U.S. deserves no explanation on Syria arms, rejects sanctions

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that Russia would use its U.N. Security Council veto to block any proposals for military intervention in Syria, following a suggestion by Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to send in Arab troops

Πηγή: Al Arabiya news
Jan 18 2012

Russia, which has been criticized for its sale of weapons to conflict-torn Syria, has no intention to justify its actions to the United States, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Lavrov spoke after a Russian-operated ship carrying what a Cypriot official said was ammunition arrived in Syria last week from St. Petersburg after being held up in Cyprus.

The United States said it had raised concerns about the ship with Russia.

“We don’t consider it necessary to explain ourselves or justify ourselves, because we are not violating any international agreements or any (U.N.) Security Council resolutions,” Lavrov told an annual news conference.

The U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said on Tuesday that the United States had “very grave concern about arms flows into Syria from any source.”

She said it was unfortunate that there was no arms embargo against Syria, where the United Nations says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in a 10-months crackdown on opposition to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

Russia, which along with China blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution in October that threatened an arms embargo on Syria, says an embargo would cut off supplies to the government while enabling armed opponents to receive weapons illegally.

Lavrow also said Russia, a permanent veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, will reject any use of sanctions or deployment of troops over the unrest in Syria.

Lavrov indicated that Russia would use its U.N. Security Council veto to block any proposals for military intervention in Syria, following a suggestion by Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to send in Arab troops.

“We will hardly be able to prevent (force) if someone really wants to do something like that. But let that be on their own initiative and rest on their conscience.

“They will not receive any mandate from the U。N。 Security Council,” he said.

Russia has irked the West with its position on Syria as the crackdown by Assad’s regime on protestors intensified. Moscow has insisted the Syrian opposition is as much to blame for the violence as the regime.

It has proposed its own resolution at the United Nations Security Council, condemning both sides for the unrest. But Western states have complained that it fails to hold Assad accountable.

Lavrov described the position of Western states over Syria as “one-sided.”

Western criticism of Russia’s resolution failed to take account of the actions of “the armed extremist opposition against administrative buildings, hospitals, schools, and the acts of terror that are being carried out,” he said.

“Why do we need to stay silent about this? The approach of our Western partners is one-sided,” he said, complaining the West also did not want the resolution to make clear it excluded the use of force.

Moscow still maintains close ties with the secular regime in Damascus that were cultivated under Bashar al-Assad’s father and strongman predecessor Hafez al-Assad.

Russia maintains a naval base in Syria in the port of Tartus and remains a key supplier of weapons to Damascus.