Samantha Power criticizes Russia for calling emergency Security Council meeting
US Permanent Representative to the UN Samantha Power heavily criticized the Russian initiative to hold an emergency Security Council conference on Saturday to discuss an incident connected with the air raid on Deir ez-Zor, during which 62 Syrian soldiers were killed. The US claims that positions of the so-called Islamic State were targeted, and the deaths of the Syrian soldiers was an accident. Power has told reporters that Russia's actions are a ruse, the real purpose of which is to distract public attention from "the most systematically committed atrocities of our time."
According to the diplomat, the U.S. authorities are still collecting information about the bombing near Deir ez-Zor. She asserted that the U.S. forces were convinced that they had targeted the positions of the so-called Islamic State.
Power also reminded reporters about a number of Syrian Air Force strikes on schools and hospitals, about blockades of cities that turned into hunger and suffering for the local population, about the use of chemical weapons by government forces against civilian targets. However, she said these actions never prompted Moscow to urge the Security Council to act.
"Imagine how often we would have to convene emergency meetings of the Security Council, if we did it after each bombing of a hospital by Russia or Syria. Russia never convenes a UN Security Council meeting regarding these actions."
Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, called Power’s position "unprecedented and defiant" and accused his American counterpart of demagoguery. Churkin also expressed doubt that it was an error, noting that the incident occurred at a time when countries are trying to agree on a long-term cease-fire in Syria.
Both ambassadors declined to comment on whether Saturday's bombing was confirmation that the deal on achieving ceasefire has failed.
The Russian Ministry of Defense presented the Coalition’s strike as evidence of Washington’s "stubborn refusal" to coordinate actions with the Russian military in Syria.
At the same time, the USA’s statement to the UN Security Council in connection with the incident in Syria says that the command of the coalition against the so-called Islamic State had warned the Russian authorities about the planned attack in advance.