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Russia slams `Western hysteria` over Syria veto
Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed Russia`s position that the resolution was wrong to blame Assad`s regime for the violence.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed frustration that
Western states did not postpone Saturday`s UN Security Council
vote until after his visit Tuesday to Damascus, where he will
deliver a message to President Bashar al-Assad.
"Some comments from the West on the UN Security
Council vote, I would say, are indecent and bordering on
hysteria," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow after a meeting
with Bahraini counterpart Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa.
"Such hysterical comments are aimed at suppressing
what is actually happening and what has happened," said
Lavrov.
"It reminds me of the proverb: `he who gets angry is
rarely right`," he added.
Lavrov reaffirmed Russia`s position that the
resolution was wrong to blame Assad`s regime for the violence
and should have also taken aim at the opposition.
"In Syria there is more than one source of violence.
There are several there," he said.
Russian news agency ITAR-TASS said that alongside the
head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency (SVR) Mikhail
Fradkov, Lavrov would deliver a message from President Dmitry
Medvedev to Assad.
But Lavrov would not divulge the purpose of the
mission.
"When you go on a mission on the order of the head of
state then the purpose of the mission is usually only revealed
to the person it is addressed to. If I tell you everything now
then what is the point?"
"You can talk to people just through the media. And
some countries prefer to do things this way. But foreign
policy demands a more classical approach."
Lavrov regretted that Western powers had not postponed
the vote, saying that Moscow had asked for a delay of a few
days so that the outcome of his visit to Syria could be
discussed.
"The co-authors of the resolution over-hastily decided
to put it to a vote," he said.
PTI