Russia opposes Syria no-fly zone proposal

Lough Erne, United Kingdom/Moscow: Russia said yesterday it would not permit a no-fly zone to be implemented over Syria, following reports that plans for such a measure were being drawn up by the United States.

“We saw with the example of Libya how such a zone is introduced and how such decisions are implemented. We do not want a repeat of this in respect to the Syria conflict. I think that we will not permit in principle such a scenario,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters.

Russia effectively allowed Western powers led by the United States to deploy a no-fly zone over Libya in 2011 by deciding not to veto a UN Security Council resolution authorising such a move. But Russia responded with anger when the same resolution was used to justify the bombing of ground positions of troops of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi — a Moscow ally from Soviet times.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that a no-fly zone over Syria — another key Moscow ally in the Middle East — would be “illegal”. But he did not at the time go so far as to suggest that Russia would block any UN Security Council resolution for a Syrian no-fly zone.

US media reports that Washington was preparing to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria were fuelled over the weekend by the Pentagon’s confirmation that it will keep F-16 fighters and Patriot missile interceptors in Jordan after the end of a joint military exercise there this month.

A US defence official said last week the military would also keep a unit of US Marines on amphibious ships off the Red Sea coast after consultations with Jordan.

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that the no-fly zone could be deployed from Jordan over the western sections of Syria.

The Russian ministry spokesman said US activities in Jordan “are also a direct violation of international law.”

Meanwhile, the conflict was set to dominate a G8 summit starting in Northern Ireland on Monday, with Russia facing pressure to back away from its support for President Bashar Al Assad.

Increasingly isolated from fellow G8 leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to get a frosty reception at the summit in the lake-fringed Lough Erne golf resort.

Planned face-to-face talks between Putin and US President Barack Obama were set to be especially prickly, with both leaders now offering military support to opposing sides in the war.

Summit host Prime Minister David Cameron, who had initially hoped for talks to focus on finance and trade, said on Monday his priority was to ensure a peace conference on the Syria conflict takes place later this year.

“What we can try and do here at the G8 is have further pressure for the peace conference and the transition that is needed to bring this conflict to an end,” Cameron said in a round of television interviews before the summit.

“What we do need to do is bring about this peace conference and this transition, so that people in Syria can have a government that represents them, rather than a government that’s trying to butcher them,” he said.

Washington and Moscow have been pushing for Syria’s regime and opposition to hold peace talks in Geneva, but the efforts have so far been without result.

In his talks with Putin, Obama will emphasise that Washington wants to keep alive the mooted peace conference in Geneva, which appears to be slipping down the list of priorities.

But on the eve of the summit Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it clear that few of the G8’s other leaders expected Putin to change his position.

“I don’t think we should fool ourselves. This is the G7 plus one,” Harper told reporters in Dublin. “Unless there’s a big shift of position on his part, we’re not going to get a common position with him at the G8.”

French President Francois Hollande had also landed in Northern Ireland and was due for private talks with Putin.

Cameron will host Obama, Putin, Hollande, Harper, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta at the summit.

The British premier may face some uncomfortable questions after documents leaked by US former spy Edward Snowden appeared to show that Britain spied on foreign delegates at the 2009 London G20 meetings.

Among the officials targeted were delegates from Nato ally Turkey and from fellow Commonwealth state South Africa, said British newspaper The Guardian.

Asked whether he could guarantee his guests that no similar operation was in place as they gathered at Lough Erne, Cameron would not be drawn. “We never comment on security or intelligence issues and I am not about to start now,” he said.

In a bright spot at the summit, leaders are expected to announce the formal start of negotiations on a vast free trade pact between the European Union and the United States.

EU nations agreed to go ahead with the talks after late-night discussions in Luxembourg on Friday to convince France that its prized cultural industries would not be under threat from the pact. Officials have said the deal could be worth more than €200 billion (Dh979.71 billion) annually to the European and US economies.

The British hosts of the gathering also want to forge consensus on cracking down on tax evasion and making multinational companies more transparent.