US welcomes Russian shift on Syria at UN Security Council but won’t back draft resolution

The Washington Post
Friday, December 16, 2011

The Obama administration says it’s pleased that Russia has decided to support U.N. Security Council action aimed at halting violence in Syria, but it won’t support Russia’s proposed resolution unless changes are made.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday that Russia’s surprise introduction of a Security Council resolution on Syria was an “important step” and a sign of growing unity on the importance of opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime’s brutal crackdown on reformers.

“It’s clear from the steps that Russia took, that more and more of the international community is coming together as one, to say to Syria and to the Assad regime that we can no longer tolerate the kind of killings that are going on, the kind of abuse of human rights that have gone on in Syria and that Assad needs to step down,” Panetta told a news conference in Ankara.

Full story here.

This article was posted: Friday, December 16, 2011 at 2:20 pm

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