Russia and China on Tuesday boycotted what Moscow called an "unacceptable" closed-door videoconference with the UN Security Council on chemical weapons in Syria.

"Russia and China have empty tiles" on the screen, a Security Council member told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

During a virtual press conference, Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow had one request: "That the interaction is conducted in an open setting."

"Regrettably, our Western partners, and their allies, insisted on holding this meeting behind closed doors in an informal setting despite the slogans of openness and transparency of the Security Council," he said.

"Such (an) approach is unacceptable to us as it undermines the prerogatives of State parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention."

During the monthly meeting, Council members were to hear reports from the UN's top representative for disarmament affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, and the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Fernando Arias.

The Council was also to hear from Santiago Onate-Laborde, the coordinator of the OPCW's Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) that was started in 2018.

The IIT published in early April a report for the first time explicitly blaming Damascus for three chemical weapons attacks in 2017.

According to Moscow, a Damascus ally, Syria had halted its chemical weapons program, destroyed its stockpile of chemical weapons and its production capacity.

Damascus has denied responsibility for the 2017 attacks.

Tuesday's meeting "has been scheduled in a closed format to allow Council members and the Syrian Arab Republic to exchange views frankly and ask questions to the briefers," the UK's UN diplomatic mission said in a statement.

"A refusal to attend the meeting and engage with the OPCW on the substance of its findings is disappointing and indicative of the preference of some council members to undermine the prohibition on chemical weapons use by attacking the people and institutions charged with protecting it," the statement said.

EU renews call for end to Libya violence
Brussels (AFP) May 12, 2020 - The EU on Tuesday demanded an end to fighting in Libya and said it was "determined" to enforce a UN arms embargo on the oil-rich but wartorn state.

As defence ministers from the 27 EU countries held video talks on the coronavirus pandemic's impact on European security, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell renewed a call to halt the civil war raging in Libya.

The EU's new naval mission to block the flow of arms to Libya by sea got under way last week and Borrell -- in a statement issued in the name of all 27 countries -- vowed to make it work.

"The European Union remains determined to see the UN arms embargo in Libya fully respected," he said.

He said further efforts were needed to "ensure the full and effective implementation" of the embargo, particularly through Libya's land and air borders.

Libya has been mired in chaos since the ouster and killing of long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and west vying for power.

Operation Irini aims to halt the flow of arms into Libya, where the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli is under attack from the forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar, who controls swathes of the country's east.

Operation Irini now has a French frigate patrolling the eastern Mediterranean to look for arms shipments, backed up by aerial and satellite surveillance.

But critics have warned that by focusing on sea shipments, the new EU mission may deprive the Tripoli government of weapons but not Haftar, who receives supplies overland and by air.

On Sunday, the GNA said Haftar's forces had rained more than 100 rockets and missiles on residential areas in Tripoli, killing at least four civilians.

Borrell said that in view of the escalating violence, the EU was renewing its call for a truce.

"The European Union demands that all parties act responsibly and immediately cease the fighting all over Libya," he said in his statement.

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