UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – Russia will continue to push for the adoption of its renewed draft UN Security Council resolution on counter-terrorism measures, in addition to the French anti-terrorism resolution already adopted by the Council, Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.
"We believe the French resolution a political appeal not changing the legal principle of the counter-terrorism combat. We think it’s a step in creating a broad anti-terrorism front through the organization of the comprehensive cooperation of all states to stem all manifestations of terrorism and eradicating its root causes. This was also the aim of the Russian draft resolution," Churkin told the UN Security Council on Friday.
Earlier, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a France-initiated counter-terrorism resolution, which recognizes Islamic State (ISIL), as well as other radical groups, as a global threat and calls on all UN member-states to redouble their counter-terrorism efforts.
The Russian envoy warned against attempts to block the work on the Russia-initiated draft, calling such counter-productive efforts "politically short sighted."
"Active work on the approval of our draft is something that we intend to do with a view to its swift adoption," Churkin stressed.
On Thursday, French diplomats distributed a draft resolution that called on UN Security Council member-states to "redouble and coordinate their efforts" against ISIL in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks that took the lives of at least 129 people. ISIL has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The French-proposed document emerged a day after Russia submitted a renewed text of its own draft resolution.
The Russian draft called for global counter-terrorism action based on the principles of international law, stipulating that any anti-terrorism operation on the territory of a foreign state, such as Syria, must be conducted with the permission of the state’s authorities.
Russia has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL radicals in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while a US-led international coalition, which includes France, has been targeting ISIL positions in the country without the permission of Damascus or the United Nations.
