Calls to strike Syria 'challenge to UN Charter': Russia

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Calls to strike Syria 'challenge to UN Charter': Russia

(Xinhua) 18:02, August 29, 2013

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MOSCOW, Aug. 29 -- Calls for military intervention in Syria openly challenged the United Nations Charter, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadi Gatilov said Thursday.

"The plans being declared by some countries to conduct a military attack against Syria constitute an undisguised challenge to key provisions of the UN Charter and to other international laws," Gatilov said.

The Russian diplomat made the remarks during a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in The Hague on Wednesday.

Gatilov said, currently, it was necessary to use political and diplomatic tools to the utmost.

UN experts investigating alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria should be allowed to complete their work and report findings to the UN Security Council, Gatilov said.

Ban said the search for a diplomatic solution to the Syria conflict should be continued.

Russia has repeatedly voiced against possible military intervention in Syria, saying it would undermine efforts for a political settlement and destabilize the Middle East.

Late Tuesday in a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected U.S. accusations the Syrian government was behind last week's claimed chemical attack.

On Aug. 21, the Syrian opposition claimed that some 1,300 people were killed in a chemical weapon attack carried out by the government troops on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus. The Syrian government strongly denied the accusation.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday that Washington was weighing a "tailored and limited approach" against the Syrian government as a punishment and warning for using the banned weapons.

（Editor：DuMingming、Liang Jun）