Russia, China veto UN resolution on Syria sanctions

In order to block bid by western countries to impose UN sanctions on Syria, Russia and China vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Syria over accusations of chemical weapons attacks by Damascus.

Russia and China had to use their right to veto as the document initiated by the western countries scored nine votes or a minimum number necessary to adopt a document.

Egypt, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia refrained from voting on the resolution.

"The draft resolution is not adopted because of the negative vote of a permanent member," Tass news agency quoted Ukraine's Permanent Representative Vladimir Yelchenko, who hold presidency in the Security Council in February," as saying after the voting.

The draft anticipated a ban on supplies of all types of helicopters to the Syrian government, army and government structures.

The resolution mentioned conclusions of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism which put the blame on Syria for three chemical attacks in which containers with apparently chlorine were dropped from military helicopters.

However, Russia and China discarded these conclusions saying these were not convincing.

The resolution also sought sanctions against a number of Syrian officials and government structures for their alleged involvement n the chemical attacks.