France to put draft resolution on Aleppo at UN SC voting today

France will put a draft resolution on ceasefire in Aleppo on voting at the United Nations Security Council today. However, Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin said, he will most likely veto a resolution that would ground Russian warplanes. He said Russia cannot admit endorsement of the French authored draft resolution on Aleppo in its current form. 

Churking said, the Security Council should instead rally around the proposal made by UN envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura for an al-Qaida-linked militant faction to leave Aleppo in exchange for an end to Russian and Syrian Government bombardment. 

The draft comes following the Washington's decision to suspend talks with Russia over Syria, claiming that Russia had failed to fulfill its commitment to a ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, Russia's Parliament ratified a treaty with Syria that



allows its troops to stay indefinitely in the country, a show of support for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In a related development, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, Russia and the Syrian Government should be investigated for war crimes.Reacting to Kerry's statement, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, Kerry’s statement on the necessity of a probe into Russia’s operation in Syria is obviously meant to divert attention from Washington breaching the Syrian ceasefire deal.

US and Russia are both fighting against Islamic State in Syria, but are on opposite sides in the wider civil war, with Moscow fighting to protect Assad and Washington supporting rebels against him. More than 2.5 lakh people are believed to be trapped inside rebel-held eastern Aleppo, facing dire shortages of food and medicine.