Russia blasts U.S., UK over Zimbabwe vote

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia is venting anger over comments made by U.S. and British officials who have criticized Moscow's veto of U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Officials in the United States and Britain have voiced astonishment over Friday's veto by Russia and China on sanctions.

The U.S.-led sanctions were aimed at punishing Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe's deadly crackdown on the opposition during and after what was widely viewed as a flawed presidential election process.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement Saturday said the criticism "places a question mark over the worthiness of Russia as a G-8 partner."

It added that the possibility of U.N. sanctions on Zimbabwe was excluded at a recent G-8 summit in Japan.

Russia said it believed the sanctions would set a precedent for U.N. meddling.

The sanctions would have been imposed on Mugabe and 11 senior members of his government.

According to a draft of the resolution, the measure would have instituted a travel ban, frozen many of their assets and imposed an international arms embargo on the regime.

The measure received nine votes -- the minimum for it to pass. However, two of the five negative votes were from Russia and China, who as permanent members of the Security Council have veto power.

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All About Zimbabwe • United Nations Security Council • Robert Mugabe • Zalmay Khalilzad