Lavrov: U.S. blackmailing Russia to gain support to resolution allowing for use of force against Syria
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. Sept 22 (Interfax) - The United States is blackmailing Russia with the possible termination of settlement of the Syrian problem at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) if Moscow denies support to a UN Security Council resolution regarding Syria and based on Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows for the use of force, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"The U.S. partners are blackmailing us: they say they will quit the work at the OPCW in The Hague if Russia does not back the resolution based on Chapter 7 at the UN Security Council," he said in an interview with the Channel One Voskresnoye Vremya program aired in the Russian Far East.
"This is an absolute deviation from what we have agreed on with [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry - to have an OPCW decision first and then to adopt a UN Security Council resolution supporting this decision but not based on Chapter 7," the minister said.
Hopefully, an OPCW decision on Syria will be made shortly if the Western partners do not try to thwart the OPCW effort, he said.
"A decision is imminent unless the arrogant position of certain Western partners prevails - they say they will curtail the activity at the OPCW if the UN Security Council does not threaten Syria with Chapter 7 of the UN Charter," the Russian minister remarked.
"If this idea materializes it will disclose their intentions and what they really want from the Syrian crisis," he added.
"U.S. colleagues and we are drawing up an [OPCW] decision. Some issues are yet to be coordinated and reconciled with the Chemical Weapons Convention, such as the procedure of immediate and unhampered access to districts where chemical weapons are reportedly stored and some others. I think this is not hard to coordinate," the minister stressed.
