Putin
warns against military action against Syria, bypassing UNSC
RT
- September 04, 2013
Russia needs convincing proof, not
rumors, from UN experts that chemical weapons were used in Syria, said the
Russian president in an interview with First Channel and AP. It is up to the UN
Security Council to decide on the next course of action, he said.
Speaking to journalists from
Russia’s state Channel 1 television and Associated Press, Russian
President Vladimir Putin made a number of decisive statements regarding the
supposed use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict, which evoked a threat
of a US-led strike on Syria.
“We believe that at the very least
we should wait for the results of the UN inspection commission in Syria,” Putin said, adding that so far there is no information
about what chemical agent exactly was used in the attack in Damascus’ suburbs
and who did it.
“I’ve already said I find it
absolutely ridiculous that [Syrian] government’s armed forces, which today are
actually on an offense mission and in some regions have already encircled the
so-called rebels and are finishing them off, that the Syrian army has used
prohibited chemical weapons,”
Putin said.
“They know all too well that this
could become a cause for sanctions and even for a military operation against
them. That’s stupid and illogical.”
“We proceed from the assumption that
if anyone has information that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian regular
army, then such proof must be presented to the UN Security Council and the UN
inspectors,” Putin said, stressing that the
proof must be “convincing” and not based on “rumors” or any sort
of “eavesdropped intelligence data,” conversations etc.
“Even in the US there are experts
who question the reliability of the facts presented by the administration.
These experts do not exclude the possibility that the Syrian opposition has
conducted a pre-planned provocation in order to give their sponsors a reason
for military intervention,” he
acknowledged.
Putin says he “does not exclude”
that Russia may agree with a military operation if it is proved that the Syrian
government is behind the attack, however he emphasized that in accordance with
international law a decision of the UN Security Council is needed for that.
“All other reasons and means that
excuse using military force against an independent sovereign state are
unacceptable and cannot be classified otherwise but as an aggression,” Putin noted.
“We would be convinced by a detailed
investigation and direct evidence of who exactly used chemical weapons and what
substances were used. Then we’ll be ready to take decisive and serious action,” said the president.
Answering a question about video
records of dead children that allegedly died in the chemical attack in
Damascus, Vladimir Putin called the material with dead children “horrible”.
“The questions are what exactly was
done and who is to blame. This video does not answer these questions,” Putin said, sharing an opinion that this video is a compilation
made by the militants who – even the US acknowledges – have links with Al-Qaeda
and are notorious for extreme atrocities.
Putin recommended to pay attention
to the fact that in the video with dead children there are no parents,
children’s relatives or even medical personnel, while people who do appear in
the video remain unidentified. However terrible the picture could be, it cannot
be proof of anybody’s guilt, Putin said, and called for investigation of the
incident.
Russia is fulfilling arms contracts
with Syria “because we believe that we are working with the legitimate
government and we are violating neither international law, nor our
obligations,” assured Putin, stressing that the UN had imposed no sanctions
on the export of weapons to Syria.
He confirmed that Moscow has a
signed contract with Damascus to deliver S-300 air defense missile complexes to
Syria. The S-300 system is kind of outdated, said Putin, “though they might
be a little better than Patriot missiles.”
Russia already has deployed S-400
and forthcoming S-500 systems, “[and] these are all certainly very efficient
weapons,” Putin noted.
“We have a contract to supply S300
missiles, and we’ve already supplied some parts, but not all of it, because we
decided to suspend the supplies for a while. But if we see international law
being violated, we will reconsider our future actions, including supplies of
such sensitive weapons to certain regions of the world,” he promised.
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