Russia’s permanent envoy to the UN Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday the Arab League is being inconsistent in its position on Syria.
The Arab League decided to suspend its mission amid reports of dozens of new deaths registered by Syrian rights groups in the past few days.
“We fail to understand how they all rule to extend the [observers’] mission in Syria and then some [member states] withdraw their observers from this mission. So, there's a certain inconsistency in their [Arab League] activities,” Churkin said.
He said that the Arab League was the “outpost of the international community” working to tackle the political crisis in Syria.
“They have certain responsibilities and chances with the support of the global community. The situation is, of course, not that good because there are certain problems between the Arab League and Syria after the latter was excluded from the Arab League,” Churkin said.
At least 5,400 people have been killed in the government's 10-month crackdown on protesters, according to the UN. Syrian authorities blame the violence on armed gangs affiliated with al-Qaeda and say more than 2,000 soldiers and police have been killed.
Russia has been one of President Bashar al-Assad’s staunchest supporters during the ten-month-long uprising against his regime.
