Syria: Putin Warns Obama Against 'Brute Force' The Russian president says a strike would create more victims, as John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov hold talks on a diplomatic plan.

 

The Russian president says a strike would create more victims, as John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov hold talks on a diplomatic plan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that a US attack on Syria without UN approval would result in more innocent victims and an escalation in violence in the Middle East.

Writing in the New York Times, he said: "No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage.
"This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorisation."
The article appeared on the newspaper's website as US Secretary of State John Kerry headed to Geneva for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on a Russian plan that could see Syria give up its chemical weapons.

A damaged building in Aleppo

On Wednesday, the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council - Britain, the US, France, Russia and China - met to discuss what to include in a new resolution requiring Syria's chemical weapons stockpile to be secured and dismantled.
They left Russia's UN mission without commenting.
In his commentary, Mr Putin maintained his steadfast support of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, writing there was "every reason to believe" it was not the regime, but rebel forces who used sarin nerve gas in an attack on August 21.

He claimed the rebels did so to "provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons".
He said he doubted such intervention would be in the long-term interest of the US, adding that millions around the world increasingly see America "not as a model for democracy, but as relying solely on brute force".
"We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilised diplomatic and political settlement," he said.

A Syrian girl sits on boxes of aid at the al Zaatri refugee camp in Jordan

"A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilise the Middle East and North Africa.
"It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance."
He issued his warning a day after US President Barack Obama postponed a threat to strike Syria after Mr Assad's regime welcomed the Russian plan to gather and destroy its chemical arsenal.
In an address from the White House on Tuesday, Mr Obama said he had asked US politicians to delay a vote on whether to authorise military action while Washington studies the Russian initiative.
He made his appeal after a long build-up to war in which he sought congressional approval for military strikes against Mr Assad for allegedly using sarin on his own people.
However, Mr Obama assured Americans that, given the Russian plan, there would be no military force for the moment.
"This initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force, particularly because Russia is one of Assad's strongest allies," he said.
The US President added that no military force would be used until after UN weapons inspectors had delivered their report into what happened in Damascus.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the inspectors would "probably" publish their findings on Monday, adding that the evidence would point towards a "chemical massacre".
Mr Kerry said he had already discussed Russia's disarmament plan in a telephone call with Mr Lavrov and, while Washington remained cautious, he found the ideas interesting.