Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Remarks by Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, following UNSC consultations on the humanitarian situation in Raqqa

Q: Does Russia support a condemnation of Iran in this resolution?

A: We don’t like condemnations at all. No, in general.

Q: So, do you think they should be mentioned in this resolution?

A: Let’s see how the resolution will come out. It’s a resolution about the extension of the mandate of the panel of experts of the SC committee 2140, not about Iran. So, we should concentrate on extending the panel first.

Q: Are you or your experts negotiating?

A: The experts are meeting here. I don’t know the results.

Q: And on Ghouta. What’s Russia’s understanding of the situation?

A: The Russia’s understanding of the situation is that there are terrorists who the Syrian army is fighting. The terrorists are shelling heavily Damascus and that is being neglected at all. They are all talking about on Eastern Ghouta as such, but it’s a complex situation and it’s not just, you know, a one-way street. We proposed that we have an open meeting tomorrow on Eastern Ghouta and we are ready to talk about it.

Q: And what about this Kuwait-Sweden resolution, does Russia support it?

A: We were saying all the time that resolutions of the Security Council in particular, which is a serious body, should be realistic. Not to undermine the credibility of the Security Council. We cannot simply decide that there is a cease-fire. That’s a long and complex process to achieve. Cessations of hostilities cannot be established by putting water in the resolution. We are still working on it.

Q: Would you block it?

A: I don’t want to hear about it.