The United States is holding consultations with Russia on its new draft resolution on Syria, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday.
“We should try to talk to the Russians a little bit more about this draft,” Toner said.
“It’s evident, obviously, that more work needs to be done from what we’ve seen so far. We’re going to stay engaged on this… And we’re going to work to realize a draft resolution that holds the [Bashar al-] Assad regime accountable, but also, obviously, supports the Arab League efforts in this regard,” he said.
On Tuesday, Russia circulated a draft of the United Nations Security Council’s resolution on Syria, its third since December, but Western diplomats remained unimpressed, dismissing it as “small tweaks” and “playing for time.”
The revised draft incorporated some proposals proposed by Western countries but still avoids promoting any direct pressure on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the United States and the European Union accuse of waging a bloody war on political dissent.
The document includes France’s call on the Syrian government to “cease all violence [and] release all those arrested due to the recent incidents” and also a joint proposal by France and Portugal calling on Syria to let international media and humanitarian organizations into the country.
But it also reiterates “the need to resolve the current crisis in Syria peacefully, ruling out any military intervention from outside,” a point that Russia has long been insisting on.
Russia, a longtime ally of Syria, has been vehemently opposing any kind of a crackdown on Assad’s regime, which has been struggling since last March to quell the wave of political protests that engulfed the country.
At least 5,000 have been killed in clashes between the government and the protesters, according to UN estimates. Assad’s government is insisting that its opponents are terrorists supported by unidentified outside forces.
The Arab League, a group of 22 countries, has suspended Syria’s membership in November and negotiated dispatching an observer mission to the country. The 50-strong mission, which arrived in late December, has so far failed to stop or at least decrease the bloodshed.
Russia has repeatedly insisted that the Western drive for a stronger crackdown on Syria is preparation for a “Libyan scenario.” Rebels ousted and killed long-standing Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October after a military standoff lasting many months in which they received help from NATO forces.
In what observers saw as an implicit sign of Russian support for Syria, several Russian warships called at the country’s port of Tartus earlier this month. Another vessel that Cypriot media reported carried tons of ammunition made its way last week to Tartus from St. Petersburg.
