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Tieng Anh Vui
US envoy to the UN, Samantha Power: "Russia continues to hold the Council hostage"
G20 leaders were divided over Syria at the end of the first day of their Russian summit, as the US envoy to the UN showed her frustration at Moscow.
Italian PM Enrico Letta said the splits were confirmed at a working dinner.
At the UN, US ambassador Samantha Power accused Russia of holding the Security Council hostage by repeatedly blocking resolutions.
She said the Security Council was no longer a "viable path" for holding Syria accountable for war crimes.
Analysis
The G20 dinner is crunch time for President Barack Obama: It is his chance to see how many of the leaders around the table are for, and how many against him.
There seem to be quite a lot of G20 leaders - including some allies of the US like members of the EU - who express unease about the idea of retaliatory strikes against Syria. That has led to some US frustration, as seen in President Obama's impassioned but slightly defensive press conference on Wednesday.
We saw it again from the US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, and her very trenchant criticism of Russia.
But the G20 leaders could be the least of Mr Obama's worries, as he is under pressure to win support at home. He was late for the G20 dinner and his aides revealed earlier that he was trying to find time to call US members of Congress. He also cancelled a trip to California on Monday to lobby further with Congress.
The US government accuses President Bashar al-Assad's forces of killing 1,429 people in a poison-gas attack in the Damascus suburbs on 21 August. The UK says scientists at the Porton Down research laboratories have found traces of sarin gas on cloth and soil samples.
But Mr Assad has blamed rebels for the attack, and China and Russia have refused to agree to a Security Council resolution against Syria.
The US and France are the only nations at the G20 summit in St Petersburg to commit to using force in Syria. China and Russia insist any action without the UN would be illegal.
'Divisions confirmed'
Ms Power told a news conference in New York: "Even in the wake of the flagrant shattering of the international norm against chemical weapons use, Russia continues to hold the council hostage and shirk its international responsibilities.
The BBC's Jeremy Bowen meets Damascus residents forming a 'human shield' to protect key military sites
"What we have learned, what the Syrian people have learned, is that the Security Council the world needs to deal with this crisis is not the Security Council we have."
US President Barack Obama is thought to be trying at the G20 summit to build an international coalition to back strikes against military targets in Syria.
But the Italian prime minister said in a tweet that "the G20 has just now finished the dinner session, at which the divisions about Syria were confirmed".
President Obama said last week the US military was prepared to launch a "limited, narrow" strike on targets in Syria, but promised to allow Congress a vote on the issue.
The BBC's Bridget Kendall in St Petersburg says the views of the G20 leaders on any US action could be the least of Mr Obama's worries as his real difficulties might lie back in the US.
President Obama cancelled a trip to California on Monday to lobby Congress, as a poll commissioned by the BBC and ABC News suggested more than one-third of Congress members were undecided whether or not to back military action.
What is the G20?
- Formed in 1999, the "group of 20" comprises the 19 leading national economies, plus the EU
- The 2008 financial crisis and the rapid rise of China, India and Brazil has led the G20 to replace the G8 as principal global economic forum
- Leaders generally meet annually, with several other lower-level meetings each year
A majority of those who had made a decision said they would vote against the president.
Syria's parliamentary speaker has written to the speaker of the House of Representatives urging members not to rush into an "irresponsible, reckless action".
The Assad regime has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians on several occasions during the 30-month conflict.
Some 100,000 people have died in the conflict, and more than two million Syrians are classified as refugees, according to the UN.
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