Russia Defends Veto of Aid to Northwest Syria for One Year

Children cool off at a camp for Syrians displaced by conflict near the Syrian border with Turkey in the opposition-held northern part of the northwestern Idlib province amidst high temperatures on July 20, 2022. (AFP)

Russia defended its veto of a UN resolution that would have extended humanitarian aid deliveries to 4.1 million Syrians in the opposition-held northwest from Turkey for a year, insisting that its demand for only a six-month extension was essential and accusing Western nations of using "sly" tactics and trying "to govern the world."

Russia’s deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky had to defend Moscow’s veto on July 8 of a resolution before the General Assembly for only the second time since the 193-member world body adopted a resolution on April 26 requiring any Security Council member that casts a veto to explain its reasoning during an assembly debate on the issue.