BREAKING: Russia Vetoes U.N. Resolution Making Syria Accountable for Chemical Attack

By Jim Jamitis | 4:46 PM on April 12, 2017

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In this picture taken on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, victims of the suspected chemical weapons attack lie on the ground, in Khan Sheikhoun, in the northern province of Idlib, Syria. The death toll from a suspected chemical attack on a northern Syrian town rose to 72 on Wednesday as activists and rescue workers found more terrified survivors hiding in shelters near the site of the harrowing assault, one of the deadliest in Syria's civil war. (Alaa Alyousef via AP)

It wasn’t unexpected but Russia has voted against a resolution introduced in the United Nations Security Counsel holding Syria accountable for the its recent chemical weapons attack.

Russia vetoed a UN resolution Wednesday that would have required Syria to cooperate with investigators and face full accountability after a brutal chemical attack in that country.

It’s the eighth time Russia has vetoed a proposed Security Council resolution on Syria.

The resolution, crafted by the United States, United Kingdom and France, was circulated to the 15 member countries of the Security Council on Tuesday.

Western ambassadors blasted Russia earlier Wednesday for continuing to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after his alleged use of sarin on a rebel-held area of his country.

UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft accused Assad by name at a planned morning session on Syria.

The Syrian envoy Bashar Ja’afari denied his country had any involvement with the chemical attack. The Deputy Russian Ambassador to the UN. Vladimir Safronkov accused the United States and United Kingdom of working with terrorists to oust the Assad regime in Syria. American UN Ambassador Nikki Haley did not waver though.

However, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, did not let up on the criticism of Moscow.

“To my colleagues from Russia, you are isolating yourselves from the international community every time one of Assad’s planes drop another barrel bomb on civilians and every time Assad tries to starve another community to death,” she said.

Ja’afari reiterated claims that the US was behind the attack, saying that it was similar to “the lie of Iraqi WMDs.” He also said that he found President Trump’s characterization of Bashar al-Assad as “an animal” to be “pitiful.”