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Russia has cast its seventh veto to protect the Syrian Government from United Nations Security Council action, blocking a bid by Western powers to impose sanctions over accusations of chemical weapons attacks during the six-year Syrian conflict.
Key points:
- US, Moscow spar over Syria in one of the first tiffs under Donald Trump
- The US says Russia is making excuses for murder which Moscow retorts as "outrageous"
- The resolution would have banned the supply of helicopters to Syria after an inquiry found they were used to deploy chemical weapons
Moscow said the vote on the resolution, drafted by France, Britain and the United States, would harm UN-led peace talks between the warring Syrian parties in Geneva, which began last week, while Russian President Vladimir Putin described it as "totally inappropriate."
But US President Donald Trump's new ambassador to the United Nations told the council that "for my friends in Russia, this resolution is very appropriate".
"It is a sad day on the Security Council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people.
"The world is definitely a more dangerous place."
The vote was one of the first confrontations at the United Nations between Russia and the United States since Mr Trump took office in January, pledging to build closer ties with Moscow.
Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov described the statements made against Moscow in the Security Council as "outrageous" and declared that "God will judge you."
"Today's clash or confrontation is not a result of our negative vote. It is a result of the fact that you decided on provocation while you knew well ahead of time our position," said Mr Safronkov.
Western powers put forward the resolution in response to the results of an investigation by the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The international inquiry found Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks and that Islamic State militants had used mustard gas.
Chlorine's use as a weapon is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Syria joined in 2013.
If inhaled, chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs and can kill by burning lungs and drowning victims in body fluids.
The draft resolution would have banned the sale or supply of helicopters to the Syrian government because the UN/OPCW inquiry found Syrian Government forces had used helicopters to drop barrel bombs containing chlorine gas.
It also proposed targeted sanctions — a travel ban and asset freeze — on 11 Syrian military commanders and officials, as well as on 10 government and related entities.
Reuters
Topics: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, donald-trump, syrian-arab-republic, united-states, russian-federation