EU sees signs of China, Russia shift on Syria

The European Union sees signs that Russia and China may shift their unwavering support of the Syrian government, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said.

“We are seeing signals that there is movement in the position of both countries,” Van Rompuy said today in Brussels after a summit of leaders from the 27-nation bloc. “Of course, we will see much more clearly after the Russian elections of next Sunday.”

Van Rompuy said the EU heads of state and government didn’t discuss the positions of China and Russia at the Brussels meeting. In their final statement from the summit, the leaders said the EU is considering further sanctions against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for its continued violent crackdown on civilian opponents.

“It is not sustainable to let things happen as they happened in Syria and those big countries are, step by step, being aware of the situation on the ground and that it is even for their position in the Arab world very dangerous to continue to be completely isolated,” Van Rompuy said. “It is up to them to make their decisions. But what we are doing is following our own path and making an appeal to them to join us to stop the violence in Syria,” he said.

“You have to put the responsibilities where they really are,” Van Rompuy said. “We have tried together with the Arab League to pass a UN resolution in the Security Council. But we couldn’t have the agreement with two main players, not to mention Russia and China. And so, if you are speaking about responsibilities, you have to look to those who are at least more responsible than others.”