Russia blocks UN Security Council draft on Georgia

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin speaks at a Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters. AP

UN: Veto-holding Russia blocked U.N. Security Council action on the Georgian crisis on Tuesday, refusing to support a Western-backed draft resolution calling for an immediate Russian military withdrawal.

Even though Moscow has said it will withdraw, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council the resolution should include and endorse a six-point peace plan promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and signed by both Georgia and Russia.

Since the French-drafted text did not do this, "the Russian Federation will not be able to support (it)," he said.

The council meeting ended with no attempt to put the resolution to a vote and French and other Western officials declined to say whether they would do so, a move that would almost certainly provoke a Russian veto.

It also refers to "the territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders" - a concept Russia says is now obsolete because two Moscow-backed breakaway enclaves refuse to be re-integrated into Georgia.

New York, Wednesday, Reuters