Russian Foreign Minister Sergei lavrov on Sunday accused Washington of blackmailing Moscow over a tough UN resolution against Syria, and said the West is blinded by a desire for regime change in the war-torn country.
“Our American partners are beginning to blackmail us,” threatening to stop work on implementing Syria’s chemical disarmament deal unless Russia supports a Security Council resolution allowing military intervention, lavrov told State television. In the sharply worded interview that exposed a growing rift on Syria policy as Damascus begins disclosing its chemical inventory under the deal, Russia’s top diplomat accused the West of trying to strong-arm a resolution in the Security Council that would make intervention possible. “Right now Western partners are trying to unceremoniously push through a resolution under Chapter VII,” a move he said would “move the (chemical weapons) convention aside to advance individual, personal or geopolitical, State ambitions.” Washington, Paris and london want a strongly worded resolution to ensure compliance, possibly under the UN Charter’s Chapter VII authorising the use of force — a move lavrov said contradicts his agreement with US Secretary of State John Kerry. “Our partners are now blinded by their ideological goal of regime change,” lavrov added.