Draft UN resolution to sanction Syria "inappropriate" - Putin

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, February 28 a draft UN Security Council resolution put forward by Western powers to sanction Syria's government over the alleged use of chemical weapons was inappropriate, Reuters reports.

The Security Council will vote later on Tuesday on a resolution drafted by France, Britain and the United States to ban the supply of helicopters to the Syrian government and to blacklist Syrian military commanders.

"I think it is totally inappropriate," Putin told a news conference in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, after meeting his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev.

"It would undermine trust in the negotiating process. Russia will not support any new sanctions against the Syrian leadership."

Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, told reporters on Friday that Moscow would veto the draft resolution.