UNSC discusses draft resolution on Syria

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon to discuss an Arab- European draft resolution on Syria, a UN diplomat told Xinhua.

"There will be a closed meeting (of the council) on Syria this afternoon," said the diplomat, speaking under condition of anonymity.

The Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, speaks at a UN Security Council meeting on January 31, 2012.

The meeting took place just one day after an open council meeting to hear a briefing from the Arab League, which called for a "rapid and decisive action" from the 15-nation UN body to address the current situation in Syria.

Arab states, Britain, France and Germany jointly drew up the draft to ask Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to surrender power to his deputy so that an election can be held in the Middle East country. Russia, a veto-wielding council member, voiced strong opposition to the draft.

The Russian permanent representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said on Wednesday during a New York-Moscow video link that Russia will not let the Security Council to pass a resolution on Syria if the draft was unacceptable, signaling that Moscow will not soften its stance on the Syria issue.

"If the text would aggravate the conflict (in Syria), we consider it wrong and will not let it to be adopted," Churkin said. "We say this honestly and unequivocally."

Churkin warned some countries at the Security Council on Wednesday against meddling in the internal affairs of the Middle East country, saying that poorly considered resolution can lead to "a deep regional crisis."

"There can be a chain reaction," he said. "This is why Moscow will proceed solely from its own position of principle."

Moscow insists that the relevant UN resolution should take into account the report the Arab League's mission to Syria, he said.

Churkin, who called upon the Syrian government and opposition to enter into political talks in Moscow, said earlier this week that he was "deeply appointed" with the draft, but he told the council on Wednesday that consensus was "possible and necessary" on the issue of Syria.

Also on Wednesday, the Syrian permanent representative to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, told the council that the Syrian people will reject any foreign intervention in their internal affairs.

The Syrian people reject violence and will do whatever they can to "defend the Arab causes," and the sovereignty of Syria, he said.