February 25, 2012 - 10:27 AMT
Clinton accuses Russia, China of hampering Arab Awakening

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she hopes the international community will help convince Russia and China to change their stance in regard to Syria.

Russia and China, the two veto-wielding UN Security Council members, blocked earlier in February a resolution on Syria that called on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

“They must understand they are setting themselves against the aspirations not only of the Syrian people but of the entire Arab Spring, the Arab Awakening,” Clinton said at a news conference during the meeting of the Friends of Syria Group in Tunisia.

“The sooner the Russians and the Chinese move toward supporting action in the Security Council, the sooner we can get a resolution that would permit us to take the kind of steps that we all know need to be taken,” she added, RIA Novosti reported.