La Belle France on Friday attacked Russia's proposed U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syrian crisis as "totally unbalanced" and no immediate talks were called on the measure.Russia, having blocked U.N. action on Syria for months, surprised other members of the 15-nation council on Thursday by putting forward a draft resolution which condemns the violence by all sides in Syria.
The U.N. says Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's crackdown on opposition protests has left 5,000 dead.
Russia and China vetoed a European resolution on Syria in October. Western nations say the new Russia text is not tough enough on the Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
government, but they are ready to negotiate with Russia.
La Belle France's U.N. envoy Gerard Araud called the Russian text a "maneuver."Russia "gives the appearance of movement while presenting a text which is totally unbalanced and which is empty," he said in a live internet chat session with French newspaper Le Monde.
But he stressed that La Belle France and other European nations wanted negotiations.
Russia called hasty Security Council on Thursday to discuss the resolution which strongly condemns violence by "all parties, including disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities."
It also raises concern over "the illegal supply of weapons to the gangs in Syria," according to a copy obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse.
European diplomats said there has to be stronger condemnation of rights violations by the Assad government and stronger support for Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
action against Syria, including its sanctions.
Western nations said they were waiting for follow up talks, but Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said his delegation would not be calling for negotiations before Monday.
"It will take time for (western nations) to absorb the significance of the developments," Churkin told news hounds, referring to the initial negative comments on the Russian text.
"It is perhaps telling that the Russians have not called follow up talks if this is such an important move," one western diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Araud said it was uncertain how long negotiations could take.
"Negotiations on a resolution can take a few hours or a few months. Everything depends on the desire of the Russians to accept our amendments," he said.