MOSCOW. July 23 (Interfax) - Russia voted for a UN Security Council draft resolution extending an observer mission in Syria after Western countries dropped unilateral demands that the Syrian government would have to comply with, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Interfax.
"Faced with a principled position assumed by Russia, China, and other countries sharing our approaches, our Western partners backtracked from their position of a unilateral demand that the Syrian government withdraw troops and weapons from populated areas. The amended text sends this demand to both parties, the government and the armed opposition," Gatilov said.
"The Council so approved Russia's position regarding the extension of the observer mission in Syria at this critical moment," he said.
"This has enabled the Security Council to agree upon and pass a commonly acceptable text on extending the UN Supervision Mission in Syria for the next 30 days," he said.
"The Security Council will now consider its future fate depending on the two parties' behavior," he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry later circulated a commentary saying that the UN secretary-general would present a report on the implementation of this resolution in two weeks.
"The UN Security Council will decide whether to extend the UN presence in the Syrian Arab Republic depending on how both parties in Syria comply with it," the ministry said.
Russia "will continue to make efforts to consolidate external players on the positions of political settlement based on the Kofi Annan plan and decisions by the action group ministerial meeting in Geneva in June," it said.
"This settlement should be achieved based on international law and in compliance with the UN Charter, without interference in a sovereign state's internal affairs," the commentary says.