Russia accuses West of blackmail over Syria sanctions
Monday, July 16, 2012 at 08:27AM The Russian foreign minister has accused the West of using blackmail to force Moscow to back UN sanctions against Syria. His comments come ahead of talks with UN-Arab League crisis envoy Kofi Annan.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Western threats to discontinue the UN unarmed observer mission to Syria if Moscow refuses to back sanctions authorizing force in Syria were tantamount to blackmail.
"We are being told to either agree to the approval of a resolution that includes Chapter 7 [which provides for possible sanctions, or we refuse to extend the mandate of the observer mission]," Lavrov told a news conference.
"We view this as a completely counterproductive and dangerous approach," he said.
Lavrov also stressed that Western powers should not expect Russia, a long-term ally of Syria, to be able to convince Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.
"It is simply unrealistic. And it is not a question of our inclinations, our sympathies or our antipathies," Lavrov said.
"He will not leave power. And this is not because we are protecting him, but becaused there is a very significant part of the Syrian population behind him," he told reporters.
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