Russia vetoed a U.N. vote to investigate the Syrian president. China abstained from voting. Almost all other members of the U.N. Security Council voted in favor of the resolution. The resolution was meant to hold Assad accountable for the recent chemical attack.
Matthew Rycroft, the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United Nations, gave his view, “We recognize the need for a thorough, swift, independent investigation. Russia’s foreign minister has this afternoon also called for such an investigation. Yet Russia has vetoed a resolution that would support that investigation. Their messages are mixed. Their aims confused.”
The Russian representative gave his response, “What was being ignored and brushed aside under artificial pretext was Russia’s concerns and priorities. The main problem was that the draft resolution by the troika appointed the guilty party prior to an independent and objective investigation. This is an approach that is incompatible with legal norms.”
