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Russia Blocks Tougher Security Council Action Against Syria
(Washington Post) Colum Lynch and Will Englund - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Arab and European diplomats at the UN Security Council on Tuesday in a forceful attempt to win support for tougher action against Syria, even as Russia continued to indicate that it is unwilling to participate in a plan that would ease President Bashar al-Assad from power. "The Arab League has come to the council seeking support of the international community for a negotiated, peaceful political solution to this crisis and a responsible, democratic transition in Syria," Clinton said. The Security Council remains deadlocked on a Western- and Arab-backed draft resolution condemning Syria's violent suppression of protesters and outlining a political road map that would lead to presidential and parliamentary elections in Syria. Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly I. Churkin, insisted that the Security Council "cannot impose the parameters for an internal political settlement."