UNSC Resolution on Mediterranean Unlikely to Be Opposed by Russia - EU

The draft UN Security Council resolution on combatting human trafficking networks in Mediterranean that the European Union is to propose later on Monday is highly unlikely to be opposed by Russia or any other Security Council member states, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Union tries to persuade the UN Security Council to authorize military action in Libyan territorial waters in order to curb the flow of migrants to Europe through Mediterranean and decrease the number of migrants deaths at sea.

"I have not found in my discussions with Russian or other authorities any opposition to this [the resolution]," Mogherini said answering a journalist's question on how the European Union plans to deal with Russia's possible resistance to the bloc's proposal.

Mogherini said that there is still a lot of work to be done regarding the drafting of the resolution's text and added that it would reflect joint position of all 28 European Union member states.

She stressed that human trafficking in Mediterranean is a problem that needs to be tackled on the global level.

Europe is currently experiencing a dramatic increase in maritime migration levels as refugees flee conflicts and poverty in North Africa and the Middle East. Thousands of migrants die at Mediterranean while attempting to reach European countries.

The deadliest tragedy of a kind took place in April, when a boat with some 900 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea en route from Libya to Italy, resulting in the deaths of almost all on board. The tragedy prompted the European Union to rethink its migration policy.