The release also said Trump chose Putin as his vice presidential candidate because of “his strong approach to dealing with dissent”, a reference to the Russian president’s oft-criticized human rights record when it comes to dealing with journalists and political opponents.
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The 15-nation Security Council was scheduled to meet at 3 pm ET (2000 GMT) to discuss Syria, and it was not yet clear whether they would have a resolution to adopt.
The Security Council met Friday after the latest round of talks by the International Syria Support Group, which gathered in NY to renew its push for peace.
During the first two rounds of ministerial talks on Syria in Vienna, Iran reluctantly signed on to the road map, which is based on the so-called Geneva Communique from June 2012. The draft resolution, seen the Associated Press, requests that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invites representatives from the Syrian government and opposition to “engage in formal negotiations on a political transition process on an urgent basis, with a target of early January 2016 for the initiation of talks”.
He also asked the Syrian parties to allow unconditional and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid convoys to help tens of thousands of people in need.
The Syrian war, which is heading towards its fifth year, has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced millions more, the United Nations says.
The transition process should be Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, the resolution said, stressing that the Syrian people would decide the future of their country.
“Despite the important step that we have taken with today’s resolution, despite the progress we have made in Vienna, despite the important steps forward taken at the meeting in Riyadh, there is still a very long way to go”.
“We intend and hope… that we will be able to do it in January”. U.N.-supervised “free and fair elections” are to be held within 18 months under the new constitution.
The question of Assad’s departure is the biggest sticking point among major powers as they hammer out plans for a political process in Syria leading to elections within two years.
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It reiterated previous calls for member states to suppress terrorist acts by IS in Iraq, Al-Nusra Front and all others with Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. “Now I think that there will be follow-up meetings”, said Nasser Judeh, adding that countries had submitted between 10 and 20 names each. Russian Federation has no intention of damaging relations with the people of Turkey, President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Saturday, while making clear that Moscow’s ties with Ankara would not improve under the current Turkish leadership. The U.S.-led coalition has been bombing the militant group, but Russian airstrikes have targeted U.S.-backed rebel groups as well as ISIL. The strikes are focused on more moderate forces fighting Assad in areas where the Islamic State group has little or no presence.
