Russia says will defend Syria against UN sanctions

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia, Syria’s close ally since Cold
War times, will do all it takes to block any attempt to slap
economic sanctions against Damascus, a Foreign Ministry
spokesman was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The United States and France threatened Syria with economic
sanctions earlier this week if Damascus did not cooperate fully
with a U.N. probe into the assassination of former Lebanese
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

“Russia will do everything necessary to stop attempts to
introduce sanctions against Syria,” spokesman Mikhail Kalmynin
told Interfax news agency and other Russian media on the
sidelines of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s trip to Israel.

Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N.
Security Council, angered the United States earlier this year
by announcing plans to sell advanced missile systems to Syria,
which Washington has accused of having links to terrorism.

A tough draft resolution, also backed by Britain and
circulated to the 15 U.N. Security Council members, demands
Damascus detain possible suspects in the assassination probe
and make them available to U.N. investigators, who have
complained about Syria’s cooperation.

If Syria does not do this, the text says, the Council would
consider “further measures,” such as economic sanctions, “to
ensure compliance.”

Lavrov will seek at next week’s discussions at the Security
Council in New York to make sure any resolution calls for the
investigation to be fair and objective, Kalmynin said.

Both U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice have refused to rule out the possibility of
military action against Syria, but said Washington has not
exhausted its diplomatic options.

Russia, already at odds with the United States over its
nuclear ties with Iran, had said before that U.S. terror
accusations against Syria were hurting the Middle East peace
process, and agreed to write off a huge chunk of Soviet-era
debt held by Damascus earlier this year.