Berlin:Gernot Erler, the German government\u2019s point man on Russia, urged the United Nations on Thursday to seek sanctions against Syria for two chlorine gas attacks on civilians, despite Moscow\u2019s threat to veto such a measure.
\n\u201cThe United Nations should prepare clear sanctions, despite the Russian veto threat,\u201d Erler told Germany\u2019s Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung in an interview.
\n\u201cMoscow is obviously more concerned about being seen as a friend of the criminal Assad regime than in taking joint action and sanctions against this provocative treaty violation,\u201d Erler, a member of the Social Democrats, the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s coalition, told the newspaper.
\nAn inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), unanimously authorized by the 15-member Security Council, also found that Islamic State militants used sulfur mustard gas.
\n\u201cThe findings are clear,\u201d Erler said. He added that Russia needed to decide if it wanted to risk international isolation in this case.
\nRussia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his war with rebels fighting to topple him, and China have previously protected the Damascus government from Council action by blocking several resolutions, including a bid to refer the conflict in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
\nThe Security Council on Tuesday began to discuss whether to impose sanctions on people or entities linked to two chlorine gas attacks on civilians that the United Nations and the global chemical weapons watchdog blamed on the Syrian government.
\nThe report\u2019s results have set the stage for a Security Council showdown between the five veto-wielding powers, likely pitting Russia and China against the United States, Britain and France over how to respond.
\nRussian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he is prepared to work with the United States on a response, but that first the council members must exchange analyses of the report, which he described as very complicated.
\nSyria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Moscow and Washington. The Security Council passed a resolution that said in the event of non-compliance, including \u201cthe use of chemical weapons by anyone\u201d in Syria, it would impose measures under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which deals with sanctions.
\nThe Security Council would need to adopt another resolution to impose targeted sanctions \u2013 a travel ban and asset freeze \u2013 on people or entities linked to the attacks.
\nIran will build two new nuclear power stations with assistance from Russia, the head of its Atomic Energy Organisation said late Thursday.
\n“Operations to build two new nuclear power plants in Bushehr will start on 10 September and it will take 10 years for the power plants to be completed,” Ali Akbar Salehi said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
\n“We will save 22 million barrels of oil per year by building these two power plants,” said Salehi, who is also a vice-president, adding that the project would cost an estimated $10 billion.
\nSalehi said there was a “cooperation contract” with Russia for building the plants, but did not give details of the partnership.
\n\u201cMoscow is obviously more concerned about being seen as a friend of the criminal Assad regime than in taking joint action and sanctions against this provocative treaty violation,\u201d Erler, a member of the Social Democrats, the junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s coalition, told the newspaper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Berlin:Gernot Erler, the German government\u2019s point man on Russia, urged the United Nations on Thursday to seek sanctions against Syria for two chlorine gas attacks on civilians, despite Moscow\u2019s threat to veto such a measure. \u201cThe United Nations should prepare clear sanctions, despite the Russian veto threat,\u201d Erler told Germany\u2019s Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung in an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n