MOSCOW: Russia inte­nds to hold another UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza, the country’s deputy UN envoy said on Saturday.

Russia convened a meeting on the issue on Monday, but its resolution failed due to opposition from four council members, including the US. Washington criticised its draft for not mentioning Hamas.

“We will definitely convene a new meeting of the Security Council. As practice has shown, no one but us dares to do so,” Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

He did not say when Russia, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, would hold the meeting.

“Regarding a resolution, I don’t know how fast we’ll get to the next stage of trying to pass a resolution,” he added.

He was speaking in an interview on the Solovyov Live TV channel.

Russia has repeatedly called for talks on ending the hostilities, which threaten to undermine its growing ties with Iran and complicated its relations with Israel.

President Vladimir Put­in spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan­yahu as well as Iranian and Arab leaders earlier this week in the hope of launching peace talks.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2023