Russian President Vladimir Putin accused France of deliberately luring Moscow into vetoing a United Nations resolution on Syria and suggested it was doing the bidding of the United States. Russia last week imposed its veto on a French-backed resolution on the violence in the Syrian city of Aleppo, saying the document failed to take into account Russian proposals. Western government said the veto showed Moscow had no interest in halting the violence. President Putin, who earlier in the week called off a planned trip to Paris after his French counterpart Francois Hollande criticized Russia’s actions in Syria, launched a stinging attack on France’s handling of the UN resolution.
“It’s not our partners who should be offended by this situation, on our veto of the French (backed U.N.) resolution, it’s us who should be offended.” / “We expected joint, constructive work with France and with other permanent members of the Security Council. But what happened? The French foreign minister flew from Moscow to Washington, the next day he came out with (U.S. Secretary of State John) Kerry, accused Russia of all the deadly sins, no one spoke to us or discussed anything with us, and tossed the resolution into the Security Council obviously expecting our veto,” blamed Putin.
Following Moscow’s accusations directed at Paris of playing tricks with the failed UN resolution, the Foreign Ministers of Italy, France and Germany met in Rome to discuss the conflict in Syria and the way forward when it comes to Russia’s involvement in the bloody war. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said following the meeting that he visited Moscow before the resolution was brought forward in a bid to reach an understanding with his Russian counterpart, yet reached a barrier as both sides couldn’t come to an agreement with regard to the ongoing bombardments of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo.
“I went to Moscow to negotiate with Sergei Lavrov. I did so in a sincere fashion, but also in a frank way. I proposed to Sergei Lavrov that they help us create the conditions for a ceasefire and an end to the bombardment. We negotiated until the very last minute with all the members of the security council, including Russia, to integrate the amendments put forward by Russia, and some of them were, because we negotiated in good faith. But it is true that in the end there was a disagreement. This disagreement was essentially centered on the question of ending of the bombings. That was the divergence between us. We couldn’t accept a resolution that did not address such an essential issue. Eleven countries out of 15 voted in favor, only 2 against, Russia and Venezuela. We all regret this (vote). What is happening in Syria is so dramatic.” / “The massacre is continuing. My appeal is to stop this massacre and save the people of Aleppo. It is never too late to make peace,” expressed Ayrault.
Russian fighter-jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo after several days of relative calm. According to rebels in the city, air strikes mostly hit the Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood. The bombings resumed after Moscow and Damascus reduced air raids in the northern city last week, in what the Syrian army said was partly to allow civilians to leave opposition-held neighborhoods. President Bashar Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the 5-and-a-half-year conflict, which has been divided between government and opposition control for years. It is important to note that along-side the rebels, some al-Qaeda linked groups are operating in the embattled city.