U.S. does not want to ask for UN SC mandate against IS - Lavrov

Sun, 23 Nov 2014 07:23

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. The U.S. does not want to ask the UN Security Council for a mandate against the Islamic State (IS) not to ''fix somehow al-Assad's status,'' Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a meeting of the council on foreign and defence policies on Saturday.

''Now that they have put together a coalition against the Islamic State, I asked Kerry why they would not address the UN Security Council. He replied in that case they would have to fix somehow the status of Assad's regime,'' the minister said.

''Right, Syria is a sovereign country, a member of the UN, it is not correct,'' he added.

The foreign minister said the U.S. secretary of state made it clear Assad is a factor attracting terrorists. ''It is purely perverted logic,'' Lavrov said.

''The Syrian regime has been cooperating very well with Russia and the U.S. and with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on the chemical disarmament.''

A clear impression is that the U.S. mission against the Islamic State may be a cover for more advanced tasks to change the regime there, the minister said.

''Americans have been negotiating even with Taliban, when they need it, the U.S. is quite pragmatic. Then why is the approach to Syria remains so much depending on the ideology?''