WEST has ‘no appetite’ for Syria intervention - Russia
RUSSIA: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed
Western powers had no desire to intervene in the Syrian conflict.
“I have a feeling that no one has any appetite for external
intervention,” Lavrov told journalists travelling with him on a flight
to Moscow from an EU-Russia summit in Brussels, quoted by the ITAR-TASS
news agency.
“I even have the feeling that they are praying for Russia and China
to continue blocking permission for external intervention. Because if
there is such a decision, they will have to act, and no one is ready to
act,” he said.
Lavrov reiterated Russia's opposition to any intervention, citing UN
Security Council resolutions that NATO used to justify military strikes
in Libya.
“We are convinced that the UN Security Council must not take any more
ambiguous decisions, after our partners behaved so abominably over the
resolution on Libya,” he said.
Syria still in 'control' of chemical weapons
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the
Syrian regime was still in control of chemical weapons stockpiled at
several locations in the conflict-ravaged country.
“So far according to our information, which correlates with Western
data, the weapons are under control,” he told journalists as he flew
back to Moscow from an EU-Russia summit in Brussels, quoted by the
Interfax news agency.
“The Syrian authorities have concentrated these stockpiles in one or
two centres. Previously they were scattered around the country,” he
said.
President Bashar al-Assad's regime is doing all it can to ensure the
weapons are secure, Lavrov said. “Our American colleagues acknowledge
that the main threat is if (the chemical weapons) are seized by the
insurgents,” he added.
“For us this is very serious. We check every rumour that concerns
chemical weapons.” The United States said earlier this month it had
intelligence showing that the regime was considering using its chemical
weapons. US President Barack Obama led international warnings to Assad
over the arsenal but Damascus insisted it would not use the weapons
against its own people.
AFP |