AUSTRIA: Russia will vote against Western-led push at U.N. nuclear watchdog to report Syria to the Security Council for covert atomic work, a member of the Russian delegation says

Record ID: 279348

  • Title: AUSTRIA: Russia will vote against Western-led push at U.N. nuclear watchdog to report Syria to the Security Council for covert atomic work, a member of the Russian delegation says
  • Date: 10th June 2011
  • Summary: VIENNA, AUSTRIA (JUNE 9, 2011) (REUTERS) WIDE OF INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY CONFERENCE HALL SYRIAN REPRESENTATIVE BASSAM AL-SABBAGH SITTING DOWN VARIOUS OF AL-SABBAGH SEATED VARIOUS OF U.S. REPRESENTATIVE GLYN DAVIES TALKING AL-SABBAGH SEATED / DAVIES IN DISCUSSION IAEA DIRECTOR-GENERAL YUKIYA AMANO LOOKING AT MOBILE TELEPHONE PODIUM AT FRONT OF CONFERENCE H
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Austria, Austria
  • Country: Austria
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA63SQBSVOTGLBQ10EOGKXV0J7K
  • Story Text: Russia will oppose a draft resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rebuking Syria for its stonewalling of a probe into a site bombed by Israel in 2007, a Russian delegation member said in Vienna on Thursday (June 09).
    "We cannot agree with the suggested draft resolution," the delegation member told reporters.
    "We gave suggestions how to improve. Unfortunately, they were not met. That is why if it is put to vote, we will vote against it," he added.
    The vote on the Western-led push at the U.N. nuclear watchdog to report Syria to the Security Council for covert atomic work was expected later on Thursday.
    According to diplomats, China was also expected to vote against the draft resolution at the 35-nation board.
    Western diplomats expressed confidence that they still had enough support for the IAEA board to adopt the text, which would require a simple majority.
    U.S. intelligence reports have said Dair Alzour was a nascent, North Korean-designed reactor intended to produce plutonium for atomic bombs before it was bombed to rubble. Syria denies the charge.
    The IAEA, the Vienna-based U.N. atomic agency, gave independent backing to the U.S. allegation in a report last month which said it was "very likely" to have been a reactor.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register