Venezuela also voted against the resolution while Angola abstained. The remaining 11 members of the UNSC, voted in favor of the document. The draft resolution, submitted by Egypt, Spain and New Zealand, proposed an initial ceasefire period of seven days, to allow for the delivery of humanitarian cargo and to pave the way for the resumption of settlement talks.
Russia, which warned its colleagues in advance that it would veto the text, was criticized by the US-led block. The Russian envoy said that the UNSC should not undermine efforts made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his counterpart John Kerry, who agreed on a settlement plan for Aleppo in Rome on December 2. The plan includes the withdrawal of militants from the eastern part of the city.
Moscow and Damascus have long maintained that humanitarian pauses have been used by fighters to resupply ammunition and to strengthen their positions which only worsens the suffering of civilians, RT reported.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the resolution ran counter to a solution that the US and Russia are trying to agree on for Aleppo.
“Taking into consideration the outcome of the previous pauses (in the conflict), there is absolutely no doubt that the 10-day ceasefire, which backers of the draft resolution generously want to provide the militants with, would surely be used for regrouping and rearming the extremists and would slow down the liberation of eastern Aleppo from them,” Lavrov said.