UNSC rejects Russia-proposed resolution on extending aid mechanism in Syria

The draft was supported by Russia and China. The United Kingdom, the United States, and France voted against it. The rest abstained.

Earlier in the day, Russia vetoed a draft resolution initiated by Switzerland and Brazil envisaging a nine-month extension of the operation of the only checkpoint at Bab al-Hawa on Syria’s border with Turkey.

The cross-border aid mechanism has been in place since 2014.

The cross-border aid mechanism in Syria is being used by the West to provide for terrorists in Idlib, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Tuesday.

“You are completely giving yourself away by calling what the resolution must contain by definition concessions to Russia and Syria. It simply reveals your true attitude to the cross-border mechanism you want to use only to support terrorists nesting in Idlib,” he added.

Russia will support only its version of an extension of the cross-border aid mechanism in Syria, and there will be no technical extension, Nebenzya stated.

“The only way out of the deadlock is by supporting our draft, which was put to a vote after the Swiss one and offers practical measures to improve the cross-border aid mechanism. I would like to warn that if our draft is not supported, the mechanism will have to be shut down. In the current situation, we will not support a technical extension for any term,” he continued.