Russia has threatened to veto a draft resolution endorsing an Arab League plan for Syria when the measure comes for voting at the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) unless changes are made to its current text, media reports citing unnamed diplomats said on Thursday.
According to diplomats, Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin told the UNSC at closed door session that Moscow would veto the draft resolution if it were put to voting on Friday in its current form without changing a phrase saying the Council "fully supports" the plan.
Without detailing the outcome of Thursday's closed door meeting, Churkin later told reporters: "The end result is that we do have a text which we are going to report to our capitals, and we will see what the outcome will be. I will be happy if we have a process that will be successful."
The Arab League plan had evoked stiff resistance from Russia and China as they believe it amounts to regime change in Syria. Both the countries had indicated earlier that they would veto any resolution that imposes U.N. sanctions on Syria or authorizes foreign military intervention in that Arab country.
Russia and China in October jointly vetoed a Western resolution condemning repression in Syria. They had also objected to NATO military operation in Libya that eventually helped in toppling the regime of Col. Moammar Qadhafi last year.
Russia had earlier floated its own version of a resolution on Syria. The Russian draft blamed both the Syrian regime and the Opposition for the ongoing violence, but the West rejected it saying the measure fell far too short of their demand for strongly condemning the Assad regime for its brutality on civilians and pro-democracy activists.
Earlier in the day, Western and other diplomats at the U.N. had indicated that they were close to reaching a deal with Russia and China on the Syria resolution after the text of the original draft was diluted by removing explicit calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
The original Arab League plan required Assad to step down and authorize his deputy to begin peace talks with the Opposition within two weeks and form a national unity government involving the Opposition in two months.
Although the Arab League plan did not seek foreign military intervention or U.N. sanctions against Syria, it does authorize the UNSC to "adopt further measures" if Damascus fails to comply with the terms of the resolution.
Western nations have been attempting to convince Russia and China to back the resolution endorsing the Arab League plan ever since it was tabled at the UNSC for consideration on Tuesday. But that session ended without results after the 15-member Council failed to reach a consensus on the issue.
During Tuesday's UNSC session, Western diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as her British and French counterparts, had defended the Arab League plan. They insisted that any U.N. action in Syria would not be in the lines of what had happened in Libya. But both Russia and China refused to back the resolution in its original text despite Western efforts to convince them otherwise.In spite of past refusals by China and Russia to punish the Assad regime at the U.N. over its continued repression, the EU, the U.S. and Turkey have imposed several rounds of separate sanctions on the regime.
The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have died in Syria since pro-democracy protests broke out last March, apparently fueled by the 'Arab Spring' uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. But the regime blames "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign mercenaries for the violence and has warned against any foreign military intervention in the Middle East nation
Reports emerging from Syria suggest that the regime is continuing to use tanks and hundreds of heavily-armed troops in military operations to put down the unrest. But such claims cannot be independently verified as the Syrian government restricted access to most foreign media.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Political News
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.