Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.S.-led resolution to establish a process for investigating the apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria, during the second consecutive day of debate on the incident at the United Nations Security Council.
“Russia will not be able to support the American draft,” Vasily Nebenzia, Russian ambassador to the U.N., said Tuesday just before the vote.
The U.S.-drafted resolution received 12 of the Security Council’s 15 votes. Russia, one of five members with veto power on the panel, was joined by Bolivia in voting against the resolution, and China abstained.
President Trump’s administration has suggested a willingness to carry out a retaliatory strike against the Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, regardless of the outcome of the Security Council debate. The United States and Russia put forth dueling resolutions to establish a Joint Investigative Mechanism, and each side claimed that the other would produce a biased investigation.
Russia’s resolution failed with just 6 votes in favor.
“The United States did everything possible to work toward Security Council unity on this text,” Ambassador Nikki Haley said before the vote. “Russia’s resolution gives Russia itself the chance to choose the investigators and then to assess the outcome. There is nothing independent about that. The United States is not asking to choose the investigators and neither should Russia.”
“This has nothing to do with being independent,” Nebenzia replied. “You do not need the investigation . . . you have simply been looking for a pretext [to attack Assad].”
The debate highlighted the tendency for China, another veto-wielding member of the Council, to cooperate with Russia in such controversies. China abstained from voting on the U.S.-drafted resolution, but backed Russia’s alternative proposal and echoed Nebenzia’s claim that western powers made their assessments prematurely.
“There should be no prejudgment of the outcome,” Ambassador Wu Haitao said during the debate.
But western powers accused Russia of giving Assad cover to use chemical weapons against civilians in the seven-year Syrian civil war.
“Russia’s credibility as a member of the council is now in question,” Katrina Pierce, the British Ambassador to the United Nations, said after the vote.
