On
Syria,
Russia's
Churkin Vows
to Veto Any
Chapter 7
Text, Citing
Iraq
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 16 -- As
Ambassador
filed into the
Security
Council
Monday to
discuss Syria
and the
impending
expiration of
the UN
Mission's
mandate there,
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard Araud
stopped and
told the
press,
"Chapter Seven
will stay in
the
text."
This is a
draft
provision
which would
impose
sanctions on
the Syrian
government if
it did not
comply in ten
days.
Minutes
later,
Russian
Permanent
Representative
Vitaly Churkin
came out of
the
Security
Council and
told the Press
that he was
leaving his
Deputy
Pankin in the
meeting, since
the UK
Ambassador
insisted they
would
talk about the
draft with
Chapter Seven
still in it.
We will not
accept Chapter
7, he said, "it is
absolutely
unacceptable
to us."
Churkin added,
"I
made
it very clear
we are going
to vote
against this
resolution."
Inner
City
Press asked
Churkin if
Russia would
call a vote on
its draft,
which would
extend the
UNSMIS mission
but under the
softer Chapter
6
of the UN
Charter, with
no sanctions.
Churkin said
he didn't want
to
set of a
competition of
voting: "we
don't
want to engage
in some kind
of diplomatic
competition in
the
Security
Council, this
is a serious
matter."
Churkin
said if a
vote is called
on a draft
with Chapter 7
in it, Russia
"will not
be the only
one" to vote
against it.
Inner
City
Press asked
Churkin if
Russia now
thought that
the letters
from
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
Kofi Annan
about the
killings at
Tremseh were
accurate. No,
he said, new
information
has emerged.
He
went
on to say that
is why a UN
Mission in
Syria could be
useful, to
verify facts
and even deter
some abuses.
He hearkened
back to Iraq,
when the
Security
Council did
not permit an
armed invasion
but "they"
went ahead and
did it anyway.
It will be on
them, Churkin
said, adding "this
is
seen by some
as a stepping
stone to
foreign
military
intervention...
this is not in
line with the
Geneva
document
[which
has] no
reference to
Chapter
Seven."
Inner City
Press asked
Churkin if
Kofi Annan
while in
Moscow asked
Russia to
support
Chapter 7 in a
resolution.
No, Churkin
said, he's
never heard
Annan ask for
Chapter 7.
As
Churkin spoke,
a cluster of
spokesman of
Western
members of the
Security
Council
gathered.
Previously,
Churkin has
asked one of
these
country's
spokesman,
"Which
delegation are
you with,
young man?"
Now, none of
them spoke.
But they took
notes. And
they all went
back
into the
Security
Council
consultations
room.
Inner
City Press
asked another
non-Western
Council member
if he thought
a Chapter 6
extension of
UNSMIS mandate
was possible.
It depends, he
said, on if
"they" --
seeming to
mean the US --
want to
escalate now
or after
November. He
asked Inner
City Press to
find out.
Watch this
site.
Update
of 3:47 pm --
while Churkin
after his
statement to
the Press went
back into the
Security
Council suite,
another
Council member
has confirmed
to Inner City
Press that
Churkin is
"not in the
room" for
consultations.
Update
of 4:21 pm --
a source who
was inside the
consultations
tells Inner
City Press
that Churkin
didn't only
say these
things to the
Press outside
the Council -
he said them
IN
consultations.
, 
