UNSC draft resolution on climate change problems unacceptable for Russia — diplomat

Nebenzia

UNITED NATIONS, December 13. /TASS/: Russia objects to the adoption of a United Nations Security Council resolution linking climate change and security issues, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday.

"We are against creating a new area of the Council’s work, which sets generic and automatic links between climate change and international security," he said at a UN Security Council meeting.

"As we have already said, such an approach is unacceptable to us," he stressed.

The resolution was put for voting on Monday by Ireland and Niger, despite the fact that it had not been preliminarily agreed with all members of the Security Council. It was initiated by 113 countries, although 80 of them later decided to withdraw their support as initiators. The draft stresses that many security problems of today stem from climate change and calls for combating climate problems. Russia stands against such an approach, saying that attention should be focused on concrete problems.

"It looks smart to put all the blame on greenhouse gas emissions, as well as on the Sun and the Moon and to shift responsibility onto developing countries. But this won’t do," Nebenzia said.