Russia Signals Opposition to Western Bid for Sanctions on Assad

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

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Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Russia today signaled likely opposition at the United Nations to a bid by the U.S. and its European allies to freeze the foreign assets and bar the travel of Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad.

"We don't think so," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said when asked whether his government would support the proposed imposition of UN sanctions on Assad and senior government officials. Churkin said the UN Security Council should "work within the scope" of its Aug. 3 statement condemning use of force against civilians by Syrian authorities.

Russia voted earlier today in the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council against a resolution authorizing an investigation into Syria's crackdown on anti-government protesters, including possible crimes against humanity. China, which like Russia can veto the sanctions resolution, also voted against the Human Rights Council measure.

The resolution to "urgently dispatch an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate violations of international human-rights law in Syria since July 2011" passed in Geneva by a 33-4 vote, with nine abstentions, on the second day of a special session on Syria. The European Union, the U.S. and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, sponsored the resolution.

The U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Portugal began circulation in New York of a draft resolution that would also call for an arms embargo on Syria.

'Immoral Course'

"We are beginning the discussion in the Security Council of sanctions that can be imposed on a global basis, and I think Assad needs to know that he is on a dangerous and immoral course that will have significant consequences for his leadership," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said on CNN.

The Human Rights Council condemned what it called "continued grave and systematic human-rights violations by Syrian authorities such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the killing and persecution of protesters and human-rights defenders." UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said yesterday that more than 2,200 people have been killed during the crackdown.

Assad has used tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and helicopters to crush the most serious threat to his family's 40- year rule. The uprisings in began in mid-March after revolts ousted the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and sparked a civil war in Libya.

"Today's resolution sends a clear message from the international community: the writing is on the wall for the Syrian regime," Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, which heads an international coalition of 50 human-rights groups that petitioned for the Human Rights Council meeting, said in an e- mailed statement. "The government of President Bashar al-Assad is an enemy of human rights and should surrender power immediately."

Cuba and Ecuador also voted against the resolution, while India, a Security Council member, joined Mauritania, Angola, the Philippines, Cameroon, Uganda, Bangladesh, Djibouti and Malaysia in abstaining.

--Editors: Leslie Hoffecker, Justin Blum