The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a new resolution on the extension of the UN-OPCW The Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) on chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Russia and Bolivia voted against Japan’s new draft.
The draft envisioned a “technical” extension of the JIM probe for 30 days, during which the UN would work out proposals on how the probe could go on in a manner that would satisfy all the Security Council members.
Without the extension, the JIM mandate ends on Friday, after the UN Security Council failed to agree on its extension in the previous session. On Thursday, Russia and the US both put forward rival resolutions on the JIM mission. Russia vetoed the American draft, but its own proposal subsequently failed to gain enough votes.
Russia’s UN envoy slammed the US draft as “unbalanced,” saying its only goal was to “question the role of Russia in the process of Syrian political settlement.
