Russia Raises Ukraine Aid Issue, UN Talks Drag on Syria Help

As UN Security Council members mull a draft resolution to approve cross-border aid access in Syria without government consent - where the UN says 9.3 million people need help - Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow had found "ways and means" to get humanitarian help into neighboring Ukraine.

"There are people who come across the border, get Russian humanitarian assistance and bring it back to their families," he said after UN aid chief Valerie Amos briefed the Security Council behind closed doors on Ukraine at the request of Russia, Reuters reported.

He said Russia attempted to work with Ukrainian authorities in delivering aid but they rejected the proposal "so we found ways and means in order to deliver humanitarian assistance to people in need."

When asked if the same measures could be replicated by the United Nations and other countries to deliver humanitarian assistance in Syria, Churkin said: "We are surprised that more is not done by people who conceivably could do it, but they keep asking questions instead of going ahead and doing it."

The United Nations says it can only deliver aid into Syria without government approval under a Chapter 7 resolution, which would be legally binding and enforceable with military action or other coercive measures such as sanctions.

For the past two weeks veto-wielding council members - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - have been holding discussions on a draft text to allow cross-border aid deliveries in Syria without government consent. The resolution has been drafted by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan.

But Russia has said it is opposed to the delivery of aid in Syria without the consent of Damascus and that it is against a Chapter 7 resolution. Russia, supported by China, has previously vetoed four resolutions threatening any action against its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.