File: Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syria President Bashar Assad arrive for a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, October 20, 2015. (Alexei Druzhinin, RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
UNITED NATIONS, United States — Russia on Friday submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council supporting the ceasefire it helped broker in Syria, as well as planned peace talks in Kazakhstan.
Moscow drew up a brief Security Council draft resolution endorsing the plan it brokered with Turkey and Iran for a ceasefire ahead of planned negotiations at the end of January in the Kazakh capital Astana, Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters.
The Council began closed consultations on the text on Friday morning. Churkin expressed the hope that the Council would unanimously adopt the resolution at a meeting on Saturday.
“We hope that tomorrow morning, we can go for a vote and adopt it unanimously,” Churkin said. He said the Security Council needs to participate “in this important process.”
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin speaks to the media following a Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, October 6, 2016. (AFP/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
The deal calls for negotiations over a political solution to end the conflict that has killed more than 310,000 since 2011 and forced millions to flee. Churkin said the agreement commits the Syrian government and the opposition to enter into direct talks in Astana.
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The ceasefire, which went into force midnight Thursday, has been holding across most of Syria despite reports of sporadic clashes near Damascus.
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