Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Russia slams Britain over Syria-bound ship

Russia slams Britain over Syria-bound ship
Associated Press
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | Associated Press – 1 hr 38 mins ago
 
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister lashed out at Britain on 
Thursday for pressuring a Russian-operated ship heading to Syria with a 
load of weapons to turn back, saying that Moscow won't abide by European 
Union sanctions against its Arab ally.
 
Sergey Lavrov said a British insurer's decision to remove the ship's 
coverage reflected the "unreliability of the British insurance system." 
He also said the British government defied international law by asking 
the insurance company to act.
 
"The EU sanctions aren't part of the international law," he said on 
nationally broadcast Ekho Moskvy radio.
 
Britain has joined the United States and other countries in pressing 
Russia to halt arms shipments to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. 
Opposition groups say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the 
Syrian uprising began in March 2011.
 
The U.K.-based insurer Standard Club said it removed insurance coverage 
for the ship owner when it became aware it was carrying munitions, a 
clear breach of its rules. The move forced the ship, the MV Alaed, to 
turn back toward Russia.
 
"This is a very slipperly slope," Lavrov said in a separate interview 
with Russia Today television. "This means that anyone — any country or 
any company — who is not violating any international rules, who is not 
violating any U.N. Security Council resolutions, might be subject to 
extra-territorial application of somebody else's unilateral sanctions."
 
Russia, along with China, has twice shielded Syria from proposed 
international sanctions over Assad's crackdown on protests. It also has 
continued to provide Damascus, its last remaining Mideast ally, with 
weapons.
 
Lavrov told Ekho Moskvy radio the ship was carrying new air defense 
systems and three refurbished military helicopters to Syria, arguing the 
shipment was entirely legitimate.
 
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich says the 
Curacao-registered ship is now heading to the Russian port of Murmansk 
where it would change its flag to the Russian. Lukashevich wouldn't say 
whether the vessel will then head back to Syria, but Lavrov seemed to 
hint at that by saying that "contracts must be fulfilled."
 
The ship is currently using the flag of Curacao, a country within the 
Kingdom of the Netherlands with the Dutch monarch overseeing foreign 
affairs and defense.
 
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a harsh reprimand 
to Russia last week, saying that Moscow "dramatically" escalated the 
crisis in Syria by sending attack helicopters there. The State 
Department acknowledged later the helicopters she accused Moscow of 
sending were actually refurbished ones already owned by the Assad regime.
 
Lavrov said the three helicopters carried by the ship had been supplied 
to Syria during Soviet times and refurbished under a 2008 contract.
 
"The claims that the Russians have sent helicopters to be used against 
protesters reflect a biased approach aimed at inciting tensions and 
casting Russia in bad light," he said. "We haven't violated anything, 
and we will fulfill our contract obligations."
 
He also criticized the EU for following a U.S. example in applying 
unilateral sanctions.
 
"Bad examples are contagious," he told Russia Today. "Now unfortunately 
the EU is taking the cue, beginning to use sanctions in a unilateral 
manner more and more against Syria, but also against some other cases."
 
The spat has added to tensions between Russia and the West over Syria.
 
Moscow has criticized Assad for heavy-handed use of force and slow 
reforms, but strongly resisted a Western demand for the Syrian strongman 
to step down.
 
"A scheme that envisages Assad stepping down as a condition for ending 
violence and launching a political process wouldn't work, because he 
won't step down," Lavrov said. "It's a serious geopolitical crisis that 
needs to be settled with some flexibility, not through ultimatums."
 
Lavrov warned that Western attempts to drive Assad out of power could 
result in Islamic radicals unleashing violence against more moderate 
Muslims and Christians in Syria.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/russia-slams-britain-over-syria-bound-ship-145743977.html
 
-- 
Sostieni Rete ECO
 
http://rete-eco.it/it/sostienici.html
 
 

 nationally broadcast Ekho Moskvy radio.
 
Sbroccata notevole.
Ma possono sempre assicurarsi con le famose, affidabilissime, assicurazioni
russe.
 
 
-- 
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of  freedom, must, like men,
undergo the  fatigues of supporting it.”  - North Idaho 21st Batallion of
Light Foot

 russe.
 
adesso le loro azioni dovrebbero impennarsi: suggerisco a Persio di approfittarne.


:-)


 russe.
 
Mi pare invece un pacato esempio di verosanzionismo: i russi spiegano
ai britannici come si dovrebbero usare le sanzioni....

 somebody else's unilateral sanctions."
 
la tua stessa propaganda, abbiamo scoperto il "maestro" ;-))