Two resolutions urging an immediate ceasefire in Syria failed to pass at the UN Security Council on Saturday further deepening the division between Russia and Western countries over the Syrian conflict, dpa reported. Russia vetoed a resolution, drafted by France and Spain, which demanded the grounding of military aircraft in Aleppo, after which a rival resolution presented by Russia, which called for a ceasefire with no mention of an end to airstrikes, also failed to gather enough votes to pass. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said before the vote that his country's resolution was meant to put an end to violence in the "martyred city" of Aleppo, which has been under intense bombardment by the Syrian government and its ally Russia. Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to the UN, said none of the five permanent members of the council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - had ever accepted a resolution aiming to limit its actions and called the vote on the rival resolutions a waste of time. "Today, we are participating in one of the strangest spectacles in the history of the UN Security Council: we have to vote on two draft resolutions at the council, while we are all aware that neither will be adopted," Churkin said.
