Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution backing an Arab League peace plan for Syria. India voted in favour, as did the rest including the US.
The Arab League plan was a much watered version of earlier drafts that had called for regime change. The
draft put up for vote simply asked for a Syrian-led political resolution.
Russia and China wanted a clear condemnation of violence perpetrated by the Syrian opposition. They both fear a UN SC resolution might be used for outside intervention in Syria.
India has had similar concerns. It prevented an earlier attempt to have the security council pass a resolution on Syria, when it came up on its watch as president of the council lat August.
“Our support for the Resolution is in accordance with our support for the efforts by the Arab League for a peaceful resolution of the crisis through a Syrian-led inclusive political process,” said India’s permanent representative to the UN Hardeep Puri in a statement explaining the vote.
The Saturday vote was pushed through despite expected Russian veto. Russia tried to introduce last minute demands, which were clearly aimed at torpedoing the resolution.