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Russia, China Veto UN Sanctions Against Syria For Chemical Attacks

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Moscow’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN Vladimir Safronkov (center) voted against the UN Security Resolution to impose sanctions on Syrian officials.

Russia and China have blocked a push by Western governments at the United Nations to punish the Syrian government over chemical weapons attacks, the latest in a string of vetoes by Moscow and Beijing on resolutions about the six-year-old conflict.

The February 28 veto of a UN Security Council resolution calling for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government raised criticism from Western powers and international rights watchdogs.

The resolution had been backed by Western governments in response to the conclusions of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that Assad’s forces were responsible for toxic gas attacks and that Islamic State (IS) militants had deployed mustard gas.

Assad’s government denies responsibility for any chemical weapons attacks, and Russia — Assad’s chief backer — has expressed skepticism about the findings of the inquiry.

The proposed resolution called for sanctions against Syrian officials, military commanders, companies, and other entities allegedly involved in chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

Moscow-Washington Standoff

The resolution reached the threshold of support from nine of the Security Council’s 15 members needed to be passed.

But the vetoes by permanent members Russia and China — their seventh and sixth, respectively, on Syria since the war erupted there in 2011 — prevented its approval.

The vote marked one of the first standoffs at the UN between Moscow and Washington since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he would like to cooperate with Russia to fight IS extremists in Syria.

Western governments delivered scathing criticism of Russia after the vote.

Trump’s ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said: “It is a sad day on the Security Council when members start making excuses for other member states killing their own people.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Moscow bears “heavy responsibility towards the Syrian people and humanity as a whole.”

Ayrault voiced “deep regret” that the Security Council could not pass the resolution.

“It is crucial that we do not let the crimes of those who choose to use such weapons go unpunished,” Ayrault said. “This is why France took the initiative, with its partners, on this resolution.”

Moscow’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN Vladimir Safronkov denounced criticism of Russia at the council as “outrageous” and called the resolution a “provocation” by the Western “troika” — a reference to the governments behind the document: Britain, France, and the United States.

“Today’s clash or confrontation is not a result of our negative vote,” Safronkov said. “It is a result of the fact that you decided on provocation while you knew well ahead of time our position.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said ahead of the vote on February 28 that the sanctions “are not acceptable now” because they would hamper peace talks.

The vetoes by Russia and China also drew sharp criticism from rights activists, with the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) calling their votes a “cynical decision.”

Louis Charbonneau, the United Nations director for HRW, said that “in the wake of Russia’s seventh veto on a Syria resolution, UN member states should explore and pursue alternate avenues for accountability for the serious crimes of the Syrian government.”

Sorce:http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-china-block-un-sanctions-syria-chemical-weapons/28338960.html?ltflags=mailer

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Little Armenian boy shocked the jury members of «The Voice» Russia. Dima Bilan could not hide his emotions (video)

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Yesterday was aired the second part of Russian «The Voice Kids», during which Armenian boy Artyom Seyranyan performed the song «Highway to hell» by AC/DC and shocked the jury members-Dima Bilan, Nyusha and Valeriy Meladze with his huge energy during the performance.

Dima Bilan and Nyusha could not hide their emotions and turned to see the little performer. Only Valeriy Meladze didn’t turn during the boy’s entry, but he explained his step as following.

“I just wanted to do a favor to Nyusha and Dima Bilan”.

So, the boy should have to make a decision between Dima and Nyusha. Finally, he decided to be in Bilan’s team.

How did you like Armenian boy’s performance? Share with your comments.

Russia’s permanent representative Vitaly Churkin at UN in New York suddenly dies

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Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in New York, passes away on February 20. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The prominent Russian diplomat passed away while performing his duties. We express our condolences to the family and friends of Vitaly Churkin, “the statement published on the ministry’s website reads.

Russia outraged by award for photo of Turkey ambassador killing

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The Russian Embassy in Ankara on Feb. 14 expressed anger over the awarding of the prestigious World Press Photo Award for an image of an off-duty Turkish policeman assassinating the Russian envoy to Turkey last year, the Hurriyet Daily News reports. 

The embassy, whose ambassador Andrey Karlov was shot dead in the Dec. 19 killing, said the decision by the jury showed a “complete degradation of ethics and moral values.”

“Propaganda of the horror of terrorism is unacceptable,” it said in a statement on its official Facebook page.

The famous image was taken by Burhan Özbilici, a photographer for the Associated Press, who stood his ground as 22-year-old policeman Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş killed Karlov at the opening of an Ankara exhibition.

Jurors commended the courage of the photographer and symbolic resonance of the picture but the choice split the jury, with its president Stuart Franklin opposing the choice.

“Placing the photograph on this high pedestal is an invitation to those contemplating such staged spectaculars,” Franklin wrote in the Guardian.

The head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian senate Konstantin Kosachev said the choice was “on the edge of morality” and asked “how many more terrorists could be inspired by this photo,” RIA Novosti reported.

Altıntaş was killed at the scene by Turkish security forces.

Authorities claimed that he could be part of the Gülen network led by the U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gülen, who Ankara blames for the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Russia, which sent an investigation team to Ankara after the killing, has yet to back this conclusion.

The street in Ankara where the embassy is located was recently renamed after Karlov.

Flynn Saga, Trump Foreign Policy Have been Hijacked By nefarious “hawks” in Effort To Thwart Improved Russia Ties

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(rferl) A popular Russian daily said the key issue in Michael Flynn’s downfall was not his conversations with Sergei Kislyak but his participation in a gala celebration of Russian state broadcaster RT’s 10th anniversary in Moscow in 2015, sitting at the same table with Vladimir Putin.

Unofficially, however, leading Kremlin-connected politicians and analysts have been nearly unanimous in attributing the resignation to nefarious efforts by U.S. “hawks” to derail a possible improvement in U.S.-Russian relations. They attribute the efforts variously to the “mainstream media,” the Democrats stung by freshly inaugurated President Donald Trump and his Republican Party’s electoral victories, the U.S. intelligence community, and Republicans they label as “Russophobes.”

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on February 14 that “we are not going to comment on this in any way…. It is not our business.” The Foreign Ministry issued a similar statement.

But top figures in Russia’s foreign-policy establishment outside the executive branch were actively commenting on the development, nearly unanimously arguing that the pressure on Flynn was really aimed at preventing warmer relations between Moscow and Washington.

Federation Council member Aleksei Pushkov, who was formerly the chairman of the State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, posted on Twitter a photograph of the front page of the New York Daily Mail with the blaring headline: Russian For The Exit. He said it was a telling example of the “aggressive campaign by U.S. mainstream media” targeting “not Flynn, but relations with Russia.”

Pushkov’s successor heading the lower house’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Leonid Slutsky, told Interfax the same thing.

“A pretext was selected — [Flynn’s] contacts with the Russian ambassador, although this is a normal diplomatic practice,” Slutsky said. “In these circumstances, one comes to the conclusion that the target was Russia-American relations and undermining confidence in the American administration.”

Sergei Kislitsyn, a specialist in North American affairs with the Russian Academy of Sciences, also said contacts such as those between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak were “normal.” “If Flynn had been speaking with the British ambassador or the French, or whomever, there would not be so much attention,” he said.

Flynn, Kislitsyn said, “is just a victim of a struggle going on between Trump’s supporters and his opponents.” In general, he said, “anti-Russian rhetoric” is “a major problem” in the United States and will hamper any efforts to improve bilateral relations.

Federation Council member Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the upper house’s International Relations Committee, charged that in the United States “even a willingness to engage in dialogue with Russians is seen by the hawks in Washington as a thought crime (in the words of the immortal George Orwell).”

The pressure against Flynn, Kosachyov said, “is more than just paranoia, but something immeasurably worse.”

Flynn’s willingness to engage in dialogue with Moscow, Kosachyov said, “is definitely better than whatever is being pushed about Russia by [Republican Senator John] McCain and Republicans like him.”

McCain has been vocal in his warnings that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted and staunch in his public defense of Russian neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine, each of which has territory outside its control due to Russian military invasion.

Vladimir Batyuk, an expert with the Institute of the United States and Canada, described the Flynn incident as “a very serious blow to Moscow’s trust in the new [U.S.] administration.”

“When Kislyak was communicating with Flynn, he was absolutely convinced he was communicating with a representative of Trump,” Batyuk said. “Now it turns out that this was not the case.” He argued that the loss of trust “will have negative consequences for the future of the Russian-American dialogue.”

The WikiLeaks website, which has been accused of being a tool of alleged Russian efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in favor of Trump, tweeted an argument similar to that put forward by the Russian experts, saying Flynn resigned because of a “destabilization campaign by US spies, Democrats, press.”

The popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets said the key issue in Flynn’s downfall was not his conversations with Kislyak but his participation in a gala celebration of Russian state broadcaster RT’s 10th anniversary in Moscow in 2015, sitting at the same table with Putin.

“It is hard not to remember the famous words of [18th-century] French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, who said of a similar situation in his day: ‘It was worse than a crime. It was a mistake.'”

Relations between Washington and Moscow have been particularly strained since Russia’s 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its alleged active political and military support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow was also irked after Washington adopted individual sanctions targeting Russian officials believed to have been involved in human rights abuses, the so-called Magnitsky List — named after whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody.

Trump campaigned on pledges to try to improve bilateral relations and work with Moscow to combat the threat from “radical Islamic terrorism.”

Robert Coalson covers Russia, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe. Send story tips to coalsonr@rferl.org

Damascus rejects Russia’s proposal on Kurdish autonomy in Syria

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The Syrian government has rejected Kurdish autonomy to be included in a new draft constitution being prepared by Russia, Al Masdar News reports.

Article 40 in the draft constitution called for decentralized “people’s societies”.

“The Kurdish cultural self-ruling systems and its organizations use both the Arabic and Kurdish languages equally,” the draft reads.

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), however are refusing to budge that federalism can be the only solution.

The Syrian government has rejected local autonomy or recognition of the Kurdish language on an equal level to Arabic.

The difficulty would also mean that other minority languages would also need to be recognized including Greek, Aramaic, Turkish and many others that the PYD have not advocated for.

According to the Syrian state media, during the Syrian peace talks in Astana last week, the Syrian government envoy Bashar Jaafari, said that the issue of federalism would be decided “by all Syrians and not decided unilaterally by a single component,” adding that all ideas “even one as crazy as federalism, must be put to a democratic vote”

“It’s completely unacceptable for a group of people to decide to create a statelet and call it federalism,” Jaafari continued.

Related links:

Al Masdar News. Syria rejects Russia’s suggestions on autonomous communities in Syria, including Kurds

Turkey faces two uneasy choices in Syria. Neither of them is good #SyriaWar

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Turkish forces invading the northern Syrian town of Jarabulus in August 2016

By David Barchard,

Turks woke up to hear a pleasant and quite unexpected surprise on their morning news last Thursday.

But then, just a few hours later, it was followed by equally unexpected, but to most Turks, unwelcome news.

Taken together, the two developments suggest that any firm agreement between Turkey and the other outside players in the war in Syria may still be far off.

It leaves the Ankara-Moscow partnership vulnerable to upset, while Turkey’s military operations in Syria could be checked, at least temporarily.

Washington and Moscow at odds

The good news, at least initially to Turkish government ears, came from US President Donald Trump, who announced that he intended to help set up safe zones in Syria to act as bases for refugees. Turkey has been pressing for safe zones in northern Syria – originally to be combined with no-fly zones – for nearly four years now.

With a ceasefire now declared in Syria and operations against the regime of Bashar al-Assad currently halted, the zones would presumably no longer be used for military purposes.

Nevertheless, they faced the tacit but unwavering opposition of both the Obama administration in the United States for several years, contributing to the bitter rift which steadily opened up between Washington and Ankara from 2013 onwards, mainly because the US refused to assist a Turkish military operation in Syria.

Trump’s remarks suggested that he sees the zones in terms of relieving pressure from refugees, rather than as having crucial significance for the strategic balance in Syria.

Before floating the idea, Trump has evidently had not taken soundings from Moscow. Within an hour or two, President Vladimir Putin’s press spokesperson, Dimtry Peskov, warned pointedly: “It is important that this does not exacerbate the situation with refugees, but probably all the consequences ought to be weighed up.”

As the day wore on, that message began to sink in. Turks felt uncertain, perhaps even uneasy, about what Trump was actually proposing.

What missing: enclaves

The crucial detail which was missing from his remarks was his attitude to the Syrian Kurds who belonged to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which rules the Syrian Kurdish enclaves but is an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the militant movement which is fighting an all-out terrorist campaign against the Turkish government.

Ankara views the PYD enclaves as dangerous and unacceptable and would like to see them ended – though how this could be achieved is unclear.

It also wants Syrian Kurdish military advances against IS stopped because this is bringing close the spectre (for Ankara) of a militarily strong independent Kurdish area in Syria. That brought it into confrontation with Obama. Will it do the same with Trump?

Trump’s decision to retain Brett McGurk as “special envoy” (ie de facto organiser) of the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS) has already disappointed Ankara.

McGurk is regarded as the architect of a military pact between the US and the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), the YPD militia, through which the Syrian Kurds have access to a supply of weaponry which might be used in potential stand-offs with Turkish or Syrian opposition forces.

Alarm bells in Ankara

And then, later on Thursday morning, Turkish TV news reported the bad news.

Till the end of last week almost nothing was revealed about the content of the talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups at Astana in Kazakhstan, though a mood of disappointment seemed to be setting in among the various groups in the Free Syrian Army opponents of the regime.

This is awkward for Turkey, which is seeking to combine them into a single unified political entity, which will be able to act for the opposition in any long-term deal for the future of Syria.

However if Russian press sources are to be believed, a draft constitution was presented to participants at Astana by the Russian delegation. The details that have been revealed are deeply unpalatable both for the regime’s Sunni Arab opponents and for Turkey.

Under the draft, a non-Arab, non-Islamic state would be created. It would be based on cultural and religious diversity, with the non-Sunni group (30 percent of the total based on the country’s pre-war population) holding an entrenched position.

No map has yet been published but obviously Assad would retain the prosperous coastal provinces while the Sunni area would probably be in the north near Turkey.

“The cultural diversity of the Syrian society will be ensured,” the draft stated. The plan would stop just short of outright federalism, something which almost everybody in Turkey is nervous about on principle, regarding it as the prelude to a permanent breakaway by the Syrian Kurdish enclaves known as Rojava along the south of the Turkish border.

For groups which have been fighting to create a unified Sunni state, all this is unlikely to be acceptable.

The really contentious point in the draft, and the one which immediately set alarm bells ringing in Turkey, was the proposal that there could be autonomous Kurdish regions and that in these there would be equality for both the Kurdish and Arabic languages.

Who benefits – and who loses out?

The PYD were excluded from the Astana meeting at Turkey’s request, but a rival group, the Kurdish National Council (ENKS), an offshoot of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, was present.

Contrary to what Ankara hoped, indeed probably expected, Moscow’s sights now seem to be focused on involving the PYD in the settlement.

A PYD delegation was invited to Moscow on 26 January to be briefed on the outcome of the Astana meeting and the new constitution by Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. However last Friday, a Russian spokesperson backtracked, denying Russia supported autonomy for the Kurds.

The immediate implication of this is that, regardless of whatever Trump decides on, Russia is not going to acquiesce in a future attempt by Turkey to subdue “Rojava”, as the Syrian Kurdish enclaves style themselves.

What’s more, if there is to be a settlement in Syria along the lines envisaged at Astana, then the Free Syria Army groups will have to co-exist alongside their Kurdish neighbours. 

Turkey has been engaged in an all-out bid to crush its own Kurdish militants since July 2015. The idea of permanent autonomous Kurdish enclaves on its southern border, which are friendly to the PKK, is a nightmare.

The situation might be different if Turkish forces in Syria, which have been besieging the IS-held town of al-Bab since early December, had the upper hand. Then the Turkish army could move on towards Kurdish-held Afrin and Manbij, which are closer to the southern border.

But so far, IS has proved tenacious, though there are reports that it might withdraw from al-Bab. Ankara, which has lost around 50 soldiers in the siege, is unwilling to risk more casualties in an all-out assault on a town which lost most of its strategic importance when east Aleppo fell in December.

Turkey may now face two uneasy choices: remaining bogged down in Syria; or striking a deal with Russia, which would give it far less than it hoped for and leaves it still facing both IS and the PYD.

– David Barchard has worked in Turkey as a journalist, consultant, and university teacher. He writes regularly on Turkish society, politics, and history, and is currently finishing a book on the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Armenian -Russian investment fund to be established within months, Suren Karayan says

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YEREVAN, January 26. /ARKA/. The Armenian-Russian investment fund will be established in the coming months, the economic development and investment minister Suren Karayan said today.

It was Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan who proposed that an Armenian-Russian investment fund to be set up with a view to funding Armenia’s priority economic sectors. According to the Armenian government, the Russian side positively assessed the proposal. During Karapetyan’s official visit to Moscow earlier this week the parties looked at the possibility of Russian companies’ involvement in the free economic zone to be established near the Armenian-Iranian border. Appreciating the proposal, Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev expressed the opinion that Russian companies will show interest in this issue.

Speaking to local reporters today, Suren Karayan said the main purpose of the fund is financing and investment in sectors that will lead to growth of trade turnover between the countries, substitution of imported goods, development of industrial cooperation and growth of exports.

He said that during prime minister’s visit to the Russian capital numerous meetings and discussions were held with representatives of the Russian government and Russian businessmen of Armenian origin, who expressed their willingness to make investments in Armenia.

According to Karayan, the Russian side is interested in Armenia’s energy sector, renewable energy, agricultural products and mining industry. The minister noted that similar negotiations are being held not only with Russia but other countries as well.

The idea was discussed also by Karayan and Russian industry and trade minister Denis Manturov on January 23

Russian Premier: Import from Armenia to Russia grows by 70%

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Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan of Armenia is paying a two-day official visit to Russia at Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev’s invitation.

As press service of the Government of Russia reported, opening the meeting Medvedev noted that despite the international situation, changes in energy prices  and a number of other economic aspects, “goods turnover is stable, but import from Armenia to Russia increased by 70% during the last year.”

According to him, “this was the consequence of accession of Armenia to the Eurasian Union and strengthening of our economic relations.”

Bilateral trade between Russia and Armenia in January-October of last year made $1,033 billion. Russian export decreased by 14.6%, but import from Armenia grew 2.1 times to 314 million.

The two sides prepared documents for signing, which, as Medvedev expects, will develop direction for cooperation of between two countries: “I hope that it will promote development of commercial ties,” Russian Prime Minister said.

According to Karapetyan, the intergovernmental meeting will become a good opportunity to discuss urgent directions of the Russian-Armenian cooperation.

“I want to assure that our delegation arrived with very positive business spirit. Traditionally, the agenda of the Armenian-Russian relations is very expanded”, he stated noting that the Armenian delegation has a number of new offers which will help to broadencooperation with Moscow.

Armenia may launch own flag carrier flying Russian SSJ 100 jets

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Armenia’s Minister of Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan and Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov have discussed the issue of establishing a new air company on the base of SSJ 100 aircraft in Armenia.

“I’d like to first and foremost discuss the cooperation in the area of agricultural equipment,” Karayan said.

“The second issue concerns the creation of a new company on the basis of SSJ 100 planes. Also, I’d like to weigh in on the establishment of a joint foundation, which would be aimed at import substitution and development of joint export.”

A corresponding task force already formed, measures are currently underway for launching the Armenian flag carrier.

Armenian and Russian Prime Ministers are meeting in Moscow on January 24-25 and are set to sign a memorandum of understanding between the two ministries.