MOSCOW (AP) —Russia will block any attempt by the West to secure a United Nations support for the use of force against Syria, Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday.
Sergey Lavrov said that Russia’s draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria circulated Monday was aimed at making it explicitly clear that nothing could justify a foreign military interference.
Western diplomats said it fell short of their demand for strong condemnation of Syria’s President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on civilians, that has left more than 5,000 people dead.
The Security Council has been unable to agree on a resolution since the violence began in March because a strong opposition from Russia and China.
In October, they vetoed a West European draft resolution, backed by the U.S., that condemned Assad’s attacks and threatened sanctions.
Lavrov said that Russia would reject any attempts at securing a U.N. sanction for a military interference in Syrian affairs.
"If some intend to use force at all cost … we can hardly prevent that from happening," he said. "But let them do it at their own initiative on their own conscience, they won’t get any authorization from the U.N. Security Council."
Lavrov also said that Russia doesn’t consider it necessary to offer an explanation or excuses over suspicions that a Russian ship had delivered munitions to Syria despite an EU arms embargo.
Lavrov told a news conference that Russia was acting in full respect of the international law and wouldn’t be guided by unilateral sanctions imposed by other nations.
"We haven’t violated any international agreements or the U.N. Security Council resolutions," he said. "We are only trading with Syria in items, which aren’t banned by the international law."
Lavrov accused the West of turning a blind eye to attacks by opposition militants and supplies of weapons to the Syrian opposition from abroad.
