Syria – Russian Ambassador To The UN Sets The Record Straight

A brave interview by Charlie Rose. He took on Russia’s ambassador to the UN regarding Syria and Russia’s opposition to sanctions.

Unfortunately, the link to the interview on Charlie Rose’s website was unavailable at the time of writing this article

http://www.charlierose.com

This is my summary of the interview and I paraphrase the comments of Rose and the ambassador.

So Charlie addressed the main issues. Why is Russia supporting a regime that kills its own citizens.

In rely to this the ambassador stated that it is by no means clear who is doing the killing which is why Russia is supporting the observer mission. Russia wants first hand information from the country.

He stated that so far it was by no means clear that Assad was killing more civilians than the rebels.

Rose asked why Russia did not support sanctions against Syria.

The ambassador stated that the rebels do not have a clear leader and they have also refused to enter into any dialogue with the UN. He said it would be foolish to support sanctions against Assad given that the other side were refusing to talk. He said that if Russia supported sanctions against Assad it would be tantamount to supporting a position were negotiation was not an option.

Russia was not prepared to side with a party that does not want to talk. He repeated many times that dialogue is the answer to the situation not fighting.

Rose asked the Russian ambassador about the supply of arms to Syria from Russia. The ambassador stated that the arms that were entering Syria could not be used against Syrian citizens.

The Russian ambassador also made it clear that the UN had an agenda to change the regime in Syria. In effect, the result of the Syrian conflict had been predetermined.

Rose asked if Russia would support Assad standing down.

The ambassador replied that is was by no means clear that what came after Assad would be better. It was not clear how the power vacuum would be filled and he stated that it would be much better for the stability of the region if Assad remained in place.

In short Russia’s position seems entirely logical and in keeping with what we are seeing from Syria.