Duma urges US Congress to prevent military strikes on Syria

The State Duma on Wednesday, September 11, urged the US Congress to prevent external aggression against Syria and supported Russia’s initiative that Syria’s chemical weapons be put under international control. In a statement adopted on Wednesday, September 11, the Duma warned that the plans of the US administration and some other countries to bomb Syria were unacceptable. “The bombing of Syria can jeopardise the nuclear and chemical security in the region and lead to new casualties among civilians, further destruction of the country’s life-supporting infrastructure and eventually to an unavoidable humanitarian catastrophe,” the Duma said. Earlier in the day, a draft statement “On the Aggravation of the Situation in Syria” has been submitted to the State Duma, lower house of Russia’s parliament. State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Aleksei Pushkov put forth an initiative to this effect on Wednesday. In the draft statement the State Duma lawmakers say it is unacceptable for the United States and other countries to deliver missiles on Syria in circumvention of the UN Security Council. “The attack on Syria can pose a threat to nuclear and chemical security in the region and lead to new losses of lives, further destruction of the life support system and to the irreversible humanitarian catastrophe,” the draft statement says. The Duma lawmakers urge those who back the military scenario to take a reasonable position. The military attack on Syria can be considered “a gross violation of international law and crimes against its own people”. Under these circumstances, the position taken by US Congress, which refuses to maintain a dialogue with the Russian colleagues, arouses bewilderment. “The unwillingness to receive the Russian parliamentary delegation de facto torpedoes the bilateral dialogue. When such chances diminish the Russian-U.S. dialogue on key issues can turn to be in the air,” the draft statement says. The authors say Russia “seeks to use all possibilities to settle the crisis in Syria by political means”. “The State Duma considers Russia’s proposal to place chemical weapons in Syria under international control and Damascus’ support to the initiative a serious step towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” the draft statement says. Lawmakers say UN inspectors should continue the work in Syria and the results of the investigation should be submitted to the UN Security Council. They believe that the conflict can be only settlement within the Geneva-2 international conference when “Damascus and the opposition will be able to find mutually acceptable decisions for the sake of peace and prosperity in Syria, stability and security in the whole region”. “The State Duma seeks to prevent the catastrophe by all possible mans and addresses the US Congress and the parliaments of other countries to concentrate efforts to search for ways to settle the inter-Syrian crisis by peaceful means. At present, it is still impossible,” the draft statement says. All Duma factions intend to support the document.