Moscow (dpa) – Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday sharply rejected western criticism of Russia's veto on a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria, saying it was “bordering on hysteria.” The international community, led by the United States, acted “prematurely” in attempting to push through a resolution condemning the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through the Security Council, and the Kremlin was fully justified in killing the measure, said Lavrov, in comments reported by the Interfax news agency. “We asked them (supporters of the anti-al-Assad resolution) to wait a few days before putting it to a vote,” Lavrov said. “But they thought it more important to transfer the blame for what is happening (in Syria).” Lavrov is scheduled to travel on Tuesday to Syria as the head of a Russian government fact-finding mission. “Their (western nations') unwillingness to wait for us to return from Damascus is a clear case of disrespect,” he said. “It is sad that the resolution met such a fate.” A consensus in the Security Council was “entirely realistic,” Lavrov said, but Russia had no intention of changing its position on the international use of force in Syria. The draft resolution, which Russia and China vetoed on Saturday, called for al-Assad to step down from power immediately and possible sanctions against the Syrian regime if he failed to comply. Lavrov said that such a resolution could give western nations a pretext to intervene militarily in Syria and force a regime change in the country – which is absolutely unacceptable to Russia. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/b549u Tags: Hysteria, Russia, UN, Veto Section: Latest News, Syria
