UNITED NATION: Russia revived on Wednesday a push for United Nations approval of international military campaigns combating Islamic State, setting up a showdown with France over its rival bid for a UN Security Council resolution on the issue.
Russia circulated to the 15-member council an updated version of a draft resolution it first proposed on Sept 30, diplomats said. Veto power Britain had dismissed the initial Russian draft and few negotiations were held on that text.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council the text had been updated to focus more on combating the Islamic State (IS) in reaction to recent attacks by the militant group, according to diplomats.
Diplomats said there had been no major changes and that Russia had scheduled negotiations for yesterday.
Russia revived its draft after France said it would push for a resolution on terrorism following the deadly attacks in Paris last Friday for which the militant group has claimed credit. French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said it would be “short, strong and focused on the fight against our common enemy”.
“In this respect we consider the Russian proposal is a contribution that we will carefully study,” Mr Delattre said, signalling that France was not prepared to team up with Russia on a joint resolution.