You're reading: Russia rebuffs Clinton on Syria, Iran penalties

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — Russia on Saturday soundly rejected U.S. calls for increased pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to relinquish power. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to prod Moscow into supporting U.N. action to end the crisis in Syria and she expressed hope that Congress would repeal Cold War-era trade restrictions on Russia.

Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, after meeting Clinton on the sidelines
of a meeting of Pacific Rim leaders, told reporters that Moscow is
opposed to U.S.-backed penalties against the Assad government, in
addition to new ones against Iran over its nuclear program, because they
harm Russian commercial interests.

“Our American partners have a
prevailing tendency to threaten and increase pressure, adopt ever more
sanctions against Syria and against Iran,” Lavrov said. “Russia is
fundamentally against this, since for resolving problems you have to
engage the countries you are having issues with and not isolate them.”

“Unilateral
U.S. sanctions against Syria and Iran increasingly take on an
extraterritorial character, directly affecting the interests of Russian
business, in particular banks,” he said. “We clearly stated that this
was unacceptable, and they listened to us. What the result will be, I
don’t know.”

Clinton, who also met with Russian President Vladimir
Putin during the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit
in Vladivostok, had urged Moscow to reconsider its opposition to the
penalties, particularly against Syria in order to convince Assad that he
should agree to a political transition, according to a senior U.S.
official.

Clinton told her Russian counterpart that the Security
Council needed to do more to send “a strong message” to Assad, given the
escalating level of violence in Syria, said the official, who was
present during the meeting. Clinton made clear to Lavrov that the
Security Council risks “abrogating its responsibility” if it fails to
act.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversation was private.

Russia
and China have blocked three Security Council resolutions that would
have punished Syria if the Assad government did not accept a negotiated
political transition. Clinton said in Beijing this past week that the
U.S. was “disappointed” by the vetoes.

She had earlier called the
actions “appalling” and said they put Russia and China on the “wrong
side of history.” That assertion was rejected by Chinese Foreign
Minister Yang Jiechi at a news conference with Clinton on Wednesday,
when Yang said history would prove China’s position to be correct.

On Saturday, Lavrov said Russia’s opposition to penalizing Syria was based on the premise that “they don’t achieve anything.”

The
question of sanctions against Syria and Iran will be a main topic of
conversation among officials later this month at the U.N. General
Assembly, and the U.S. official said Clinton had discussed both with
Putin during dinner in Vladivostok.

Clinton, who’s in Russia’s Far
East representing President Barack Obama at the APEC summit, also
discussed with Putin topics including wildlife conservation, the
upcoming winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and bilateral trade and
investment, the official said.

Despite Russia’s refusal to join
the U.S. and its allies in seeking more pressure against Syria and Iran,
Clinton told business leaders at the APEC meeting that the Obama
administration wants Congress to repeal a 1974 law that denies Russia
normal trade relations with the U.S because of Soviet-era laws
restricting the emigration of Jews.

Now that Russia has joined the
World Trade Organization, Clinton said the Obama administration is
“working closely” with lawmakers on that issue and hopes that “Congress
will pass on this important piece of legislation this month.”

At
the same time, Washington is looking for Russia to play a greater role
in the Asia-Pacific region as the U.S. tries to quell growing maritime
tensions.

Territorial disputes, including between U.S. allies
Japan and South Korea, sparked by nationalist rhetoric have fueled fears
of conflict.

Clinton has spent the last week in the region urging
peaceful resolutions to competing territorial claims between China and
its smaller neighbors in the South China Sea. The U.S. wants to see the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China establish quickly a
code of conduct for the area to be followed by a mechanism to resolve
the conflicts peacefully without intimidation, coercion or clashes.

She
began Saturday by signing an agreement with Lavrov that will enhance
U.S.-Russia scientific cooperation in the Antarctic, as well as link
national parks on either side of the Bering Strait.