Russia to propose draft UN Security Council resolution on 'battling terrorism'

Russia on Wednesday will propose a United Nations Security Council resolution on fighting "terrorism", deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency. He said Moscow would propose the resolution on Wednesday at a special UN Security Council meeting on ways to defeat Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq. The meeting has been announced as discussing "resolving conflicts in the Middle East and northern Africa and the battle with the terrorist threat." Russian President Vladimir Putin at his speech to the UN General Assembly on Monday urged its members to unite to fight IS and proposed a Security Council resolution on a coalition to include Assad and Iran. "The meeting will be tomorrow, we will present our draft resolution on fighting terrorism. We will propose our ideas and there will be a discussion," Bogdanov said. It was not immediately clear whether this draft resolution was the one referred to by Putin. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that the draft resolution would be presented Wednesday without giving any details. Putin at his speech to the UN General Assembly called for a broader UN-backed coalition and for the West and its partners in the region to join forces with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to fight IS. Putin said Russia had not ruled out air strikes in support of Assad's forces in their battle aginst jihadist rebels but said it would only take steps "fully respecting international legal norms." The Kremlin's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said Monday Russia would propose a Security Council resolution to build an anti-IS coalition that would include Assad and his ally Iran. Moscow on Tuesday slammed the holding of a US-led counter-terrorism summit attended by US President Barack Obama at the United Nations, calling it disrespectful. "This initiative seriously undermines UN efforts in this direction," Churkin was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. "The UN has its own anti-terror strategy and everything could easily be done within the UN framework."