US 'disagrees' with Russia on arms to Libya rebelshttp://bit.ly/kRA8CO[StraitsTimes World]
US 'disagrees' with Russia on arms to Libya rebels
'So my bottom line is, we would respectfully disagree with the Russian assessment,' Mr Toner told reporters.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, quoted by Russian news agencies, demanded an explanation from France over the reported arms drop, and said: 'If this is confirmed, it would be a brazen violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1970.' 'We believed that UN Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973, read together... neither specified nor precluded providing defence materiel to the Libyan opposition,' State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said. Russia's top diplomat was referring to a February resolution that prohibited states from providing any kind of arms to Libya. It was followed by Resolution 1973 in March that authorised nations 'to take all necessary measures' to help protect civilians against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces. WASHINGTON - THE United States on Thursday disputed Russia's contention that France's reported arms drop to Libyan rebels would amount to a UN Security Council violation. Russia abstained from the second vote and has since criticised the extent of the international involvement. During a trip to London on March 29, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said countries would legally be allowed to ship arms to Libyan rebels. But she the United States had not taken a decision to ship arms to the rebels. -- AFP
Russia criticises France over Libya arms drop http://aje.me/kNZVA2
@AJEnglish Wait a minute, didn't France "give" Russia arms tech from the US? Who are they to tell the French where to bomb!
It said on Thursday that France has committed a "crude violation" of a UN weapons embargo.Russia and China have both questioned whether or not the supplying of weapons breached the terms of the United Nations Security Council resolution that authorises international action in Libya.China, without naming France, said that nations should not overstep the remit of the UN resolutions.Hong Lei, China's foreign ministry spokesman called on "the international community to strictly follow the spirit of the relevant resolution of the UN Security Council and avoid taking any action that goes beyond the mandate of the resolution".Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said his ministry had asked France for further details. "We are awaiting a response. If it is confirmed, it's a flagrant violation", of the resolution, he said. Russia has criticised France for air-dropping weapons in Libya's rebel-held areas, saying it violated a United
Nations resolution.
