Russia's UN ambassador said Thursday that the priority in Syria was to avert US-led military strikes that could lead to a dangerous war between Russia and the United States.
"The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war," Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters following a closed-door meeting of the Security Council.
Asked if he was referring to a war between the United States and Russia, he said: "We cannot exclude any possibilities unfortunately because we saw the messages that were coming from Washington. They were very bellicose."
President Donald Trump this week warned on Twitter that "missiles are coming" in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria and that Russia should "get ready."
The ambassador said the United States knows that Russian troops are on the ground in Syria and that he hoped for "dialogue through appropriate channels on this to avert any dangerous developments."
"We hope there will be no point of no-return, that the US and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state," he said.
The Security Council met behind closed doors at the request of Bolivia, a supporter of Russia, to discuss the threat of military action against Syria as Trump was huddled with his national security advisors in Washington.
The United States is consulting with Britain and France about a joint military response to the attack in Douma that medics and rescuers said left at least 40 people dead on Saturday.
Russia has told the United States that it will not allow its troops on the ground in Syria to be put at risk by military action, even though the two countries have contacts to avoid such direct confrontation.
- Sweden proposes UN mission to Syria -
Ahead of the meeting, Sweden circulated a draft resolution on sending a high-level disarmament mission to Syria to deal with all "outstanding issues" of Damascus's chemical weapons program "once and for all."
But the proposal appeared to gain little traction, according to diplomats who said the United States, Britain and France felt it fell short of their demands for a panel that would identify perpetrators of chemical attacks.
Asked about the Swedish proposal, Nebenzia said Russia will study it, but that "frankly in the circumstances we are finding ourselves now, this is not an immediate priority."
Russia called for a public meeting of the Security Council for Friday and requested that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres brief the top UN body on the crisis.
After the council failed this week during three votes to agree on a response, Guterres stressed "the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control" in Syria.
The UN chief spoke by phone Wednesday with the ambassadors from the five permanent council members -- Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States -- to express his "deep concern" about the deadlock over Syria.
Syria meanwhile offered its full cooperation to experts from the OPCW chemical arms watchdog who will arrive in Syria on Thursday and Friday to investigate the allegations of an attack in Douma.
"We will facilitate the arrival of the team to anywhere they want, in Douma, to check whether or not there was use of chemical substances," Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari said.
A spokesman for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the experts will begin work on Saturday.
Russia’s UN ambassador said Thursday that the priority in Syria was to avert US-led military strikes that could lead to a dangerous war between Russia and the United States.
“The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters following a closed-door meeting of the Security Council.
Asked if he was referring to a war between the United States and Russia, he said: “We cannot exclude any possibilities unfortunately because we saw the messages that were coming from Washington. They were very bellicose.”
President Donald Trump this week warned on Twitter that “missiles are coming” in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria and that Russia should “get ready.”
The ambassador said the United States knows that Russian troops are on the ground in Syria and that he hoped for “dialogue through appropriate channels on this to avert any dangerous developments.”
“We hope there will be no point of no-return, that the US and their allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state,” he said.
The Security Council met behind closed doors at the request of Bolivia, a supporter of Russia, to discuss the threat of military action against Syria as Trump was huddled with his national security advisors in Washington.
The United States is consulting with Britain and France about a joint military response to the attack in Douma that medics and rescuers said left at least 40 people dead on Saturday.
Russia has told the United States that it will not allow its troops on the ground in Syria to be put at risk by military action, even though the two countries have contacts to avoid such direct confrontation.
– Sweden proposes UN mission to Syria –
Ahead of the meeting, Sweden circulated a draft resolution on sending a high-level disarmament mission to Syria to deal with all “outstanding issues” of Damascus’s chemical weapons program “once and for all.”
But the proposal appeared to gain little traction, according to diplomats who said the United States, Britain and France felt it fell short of their demands for a panel that would identify perpetrators of chemical attacks.
Asked about the Swedish proposal, Nebenzia said Russia will study it, but that “frankly in the circumstances we are finding ourselves now, this is not an immediate priority.”
Russia called for a public meeting of the Security Council for Friday and requested that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres brief the top UN body on the crisis.
After the council failed this week during three votes to agree on a response, Guterres stressed “the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control” in Syria.
The UN chief spoke by phone Wednesday with the ambassadors from the five permanent council members — Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States — to express his “deep concern” about the deadlock over Syria.
Syria meanwhile offered its full cooperation to experts from the OPCW chemical arms watchdog who will arrive in Syria on Thursday and Friday to investigate the allegations of an attack in Douma.
“We will facilitate the arrival of the team to anywhere they want, in Douma, to check whether or not there was use of chemical substances,” Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari said.
A spokesman for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the experts will begin work on Saturday.
