Russia refuses to support any resolution

Moscow: Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has left little room for compromise on the question of outside intervention in Syria, complaining in an interview that Russia had been all but tricked into supporting the March UN resolution on Libya.

He said the broad way in which the Western allies interpreted March's resolution 1973 had turned it into "a scrap of paper to cover up a pointless military operation" and practically ruled out supporting any resolution on Syria, no matter how vague.

Speaking of the worsening situation facing Bashar Al Assad, the Syrian leader, Medvedev said: "I would not like a Syrian resolution to be pulled off in a similar manner [to Libya]."

He said he would not even support a watered-down UN resolution, such as the one circulated by Britain and France 10 days ago, which had condemned Assad's regime without supporting sanctions or military measures. Both countries have since stepped back from pressing for a vote because of the fear that Russia and China would veto it. Brazil and India have also given lukewarm support to the idea.

Opposition

"If we push for a UN vote and get a veto, it will poison the atmosphere in the Council over Syria for some time," a British diplomat said last week. "It is best to wait and see how events develop."

Medvedev explained his opposition to the new draft resolution: "We will be told the resolution reads ‘denounce violence', so some of the signatories may end up denouncing the violence by dispatching a number of bombers.

"In any event, I do not want it to be on my head." His comments reveal the extent to which he has been put on the defensive domestically over his decision to abstain on resolution 1973, which called for implementing a no-fly zone.

Since then, however, the campaign to defend Libyans from Gaddafi loyalist forces has turned into an offensive operation aimed at overthrowing the Libyan dictator.

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, said the experience with Libya had made Russia think twice before giving UN legitimacy to any military intervention.

"There was ‘mission creep' [in Libya]. A plan to protect civilians became an operation aimed at regime change," Trenin said.

— Financial Times