Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia (L) listens to Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari prior to the United Nations Security Council voting on a Russian-drafted resolution on an investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria, at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 10, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia on Thursday warned the United States against military action on Syria.
"We hope that there will be no point of no return, that the U.S. and the allies will refrain from military action against a sovereign state," Nebenzia told reporters. "We are very concerned about the situation, about the dangerous escalation."
The Security Council members were holding closed-door consultations at the request of Bolivia.
The immediate priority of the Security Council is to avert the danger of war, said Nebenzia.
Asked whether there will be war between the United States and Russia in case of a U.S. military strike against Syria, Nebenzia said: "We cannot exclude any possibility, unfortunately, because we saw messages that are coming from Washington -- they were very bellicose. They know we are there (in Syria)."
"I wish there was dialogue through appropriate channels to avert any dangerous development."
He said any U.S. military action against Syria would be a violation of international law. Even the threat of use of force is against the UN Charter, he said.
Bolivia requested Thursday's consultations after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch a missile attack against Syria at reports of chemical weapons use in the country.
Russia has called for an opening meeting of the Security Council with the participation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Nebenzia.