Russia holds key to raising pressure on Assad: UK | Top News | Reuters

Russia holds key to raising pressure on Assad: UK | Top News | Reuters

clipped from article By Adrian Croft:

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will look into imposing new financial, energy and transport sanctions on Syria over its harsh crackdown on protests but Russia may hold the key to increasing pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, a British minister said on Thursday.

European Union countries, including Britain, have slapped several rounds of sanctions on Assad's government since May over its violent suppression of unrest, including an embargo on Syrian oil and a ban on new investment in the energy sector.

"We will continue to look for new ways in energy, in transport, as well as financial restrictions, to put pressure on the Syrian regime," British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Britain would look at these possible new sanctions through the EU, and "if we get the chance" through the United Nations as well, said Burt, the Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East and North Africa.

"One of the triggers though may be Russia. Russia, I think, is getting increasingly isolated in its reluctance to use its leverage against Syria," he said.

Russia and China used their veto power as permanent U.N. Security Council members in October to block passage of a Western-drafted resolution that would have condemned Syria's government over the crackdown.

"We continue to talk with them (Russia) about what more they can do. If they are not willing to back U.N. sanctions, what are they willing to do? We will continue to use whatever leverage we can because the killing must stop," Burt said.

Russia, a major arms supplier to Syria, has called Western criticism of its actions against Damascus in the U.N. Security Council "immoral." Continued...at link