The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that the Kremlin is disappointed by the rejection of a proposed United Nations resolution aimed at stopping cross-border shelling and foreign ground intervention in the Syrian conflict.
The draft resolution was put forth by Russia on Friday at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. It was turned down by France.
It did not name Turkey but it was clearly aimed at the Turkish government, which has threatened ground action and is continuing a cross-border artillery shelling campaign against US-backed Kurdish militia positions in Syria.
On Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "Russia views such trans-border strikes by Turkish artillery and artillery strikes at Syrian territory as unacceptable," according to the state news agency Tass.
"We can only express our regret that this draft resolution was not supported," he said.
The Syrian government also condemned the Turkish artillery shelling inside Syria, calling it an "outrageous violation" of international law.
In a statement published by the state-run SANA news agency Saturday, it accused Turkey of committing "crimes" against the Syrians by firing artillery shells at areas in the northern province of Aleppo.
It added that a number of civilians were injured by the artillery fire that targeted Tel Rifaat, Malikiyeh and other towns.
Turkey has in the past week kept up a cross-border artillery shelling campaign against US-backed YPG militia positions in Syria. It has also threatened ground action, saying it was exercising its right to self-defense and responding to fire from Syrian soil.
