By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya and Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW Dec 13 (Reuters) – Russia said on Tuesday that
it was not ready to refer Syria to the International Criminal
Court and called Western criticism of its conduct in the U.N.
Security Council “immoral”.
The remarks, the latest display of Russian opposition to
Western calls for greater pressure on Syria’s government, came
after the U.N. human rights chief issued a fresh call for the
council to refer the situation to the court.
“We proceed from the position that only the U.N. Security
Council can sanction the transfer of the Syrian dossier to the
International Criminal Court,” the state-run news agency
Itar-Tass quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as
saying.
“We do not see grounds for this at the present time.”
Navi Pillay, the U.N. rights chief, reported to the Security
Council that the death toll in more than nine months of unrest
in Syria exceeded 5,000 people, including civilians, army
defectors and those executed for refusing to shoot civilians.
The Syrian government has said more than 1,100 members of
the army, police and security forces have been killed.
Gatilov said Russia shared other council nations’ concerns
about the continuing violence but “we do not agree with
evaluations according to which responsibility for the violence
… lies exclusively upon the Syrian authorities.”
Russia used a similar argument in October, when it joined
China in using their veto power as permanent Security Council
members to block passage of a Western-drafted resolution that
would have condemned Syria’s government for its crackdown.
Security Council nations including the United States and
France have expressed frustration with opposition to sanctions
and other pressure on Syria from Russia and China.
Continued…
