Russia opposes 'unbalanced' new UN draft on Syria

Russia said Friday it opposed an "unbalanced" US -backed UN draft resolution on the Syria crisis because it did not contain a call for a simultaneous halt in violence by the government and rebels. "We cannot agree with the draft resolution in the form it is being presented in today. The text of the resolution under discussion is unbalanced," Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying. "Its main problem is the absence of a simultaneous call on all sides to take practical steps in the context of ceasing fire," Gatilov was quoted as saying. Gatilov said Russia was receiving reports that the UN Security Council intended to put the resolution up for a vote at a meeting on Monday. Russia had jointly with China vetoed two previous UN Security Council drafts on the nearly year-long crisis and Gatilov strongly urged world powers from rushing ahead with the vote. "It is unacceptable to tie the adoption of any text with a deadline. The time factor is not the most important thing," Gatilov said. "The most important thing is to find a text that is realistic, without ambiguity, and aimed at a stable settlement," he stressed, A resolution of the new draft obtained by Agence France Presse "demands" that the Syrian government "immediately" cease all violence and "calls" on opposition groups to "refrain from all violence" once these conditions are met.