Russian Foreign Ministry on UN GA environment resolution: possibility of compromise sacrificed to desire to rush document through
MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax) - The Foreign Ministry on Friday explained why Russia voted against the United Nations General Assembly resolution on the Global Pact for the Environment on May 10.
"Our country is firmly committed to implementing international nature-protection agreements it is a party to on the national, regional and global levels. We therefore see our main task in ensuring timely and most effective attainment of the goals set in the already existing documents," the ministry's department of information and press said in a comment posted on the ministry's website.
The idea of drafting the pact led Russia and several other nations to ask "serious questions about how the new document would fit into the current international legal regulations," the department said.
"In view of this, we urged a balanced approach to the drafting of the document, without rushing it, to allow nations to become convinced of the need for the initiative. Regretfully, our concerns were not heeded.
"We believe that in this particular instance the possibility of reaching a sensible compromise was sacrificed to the desire to pass the document at accelerated pace. This is what prevented us from backing the resolution on the Global Pact during the vote," the foreign ministry said.