Germany's U.N. envoy Peter Wittig said Russia's reluctance to discuss a resolution condemning
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
over the crackdown was "unsatisfactory".
U.N. assistant secretary general B. Lynn Pascoe gave the 15-member council the latest details of the deadly attacks in which the U.N. has said more than 5,000 civilians have been killed.
Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted resolution on Syria in October. Russia has since proposed its own resolution, which condemns the government and opposition violence, but a European diplomat said talks were in "deep freeze" with Moscow even refusing to negotiate proposed changes.
"We want serious negotiations to start on a resolution. We are ready to bridge the gap that exists, but serious negotiations have to start," Wittig told news hounds before Tuesday's meeting.
Western envoys have been pressing Russia to speed up talks since December.
"We just had two expert meetings of the 15 before the end of the year, nothing since then, not even a compilation of the amendments we suggested," Wittig said. "That is unsatisfactory."
"We repeat our call for a swift and unified message of the council to the Syrian authorities to lend weight to the decisions and the action plans of the 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...
in its entirety."
Russia blocked the earlier resolution because it said the text was a first move toward "regime change" in Syria.