Russia blames US for cancellation of UN Syria talks

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said late on Friday that a hastily scheduled Security Council meeting was cancelled due to the reluctance of the US to publicly disclose details of the Syrian ceasefire deal.

"This briefing is not going to happen and mostly likely we're not going to have a resolution of the Security Council because the United States does not want to share those documents with the members of the Security Council and we believe that we cannot ask them to support a document which they haven't seen," said Vitaly Churkin.

He claimed that the US had been uncooperative, and constantly attempted to tinker with the text of draft resolutions on the ceasefire deal presented to Washington by Russian officials during high level meetings in Geneva last week.

"Clearly there is lack of unity in the US administration but it was Secretary [John] Kerry who was negotiating on the instructions of President Obama, clearly a deal was made and we expect it to be implemented," Churkin alleged.

However, Washington blamed said the failure of the meeting was placed squarely at the foot of Moscow.

Clearly there is lack of unity in the US administration but it was Secretary [John] Kerry who was negotiating on the instructions of President Obama. - Vitaly Churkin

One US official stating that Russia were attempting to force the Washington to make the ceasefire deal public.

"The United States will not compromise operational security," said the official, who wasn't authorised to be quoted by name and demanded anonymity, according to AP.

But despite the cancellation the US, the unnamed official said, maintain that the Security Council can play a key role in helping to resolve the Syrian war.

"However, right now we are focused on the implementation of the agreement ... particularly the urgent need for humanitarian aid to reach Syrians in need. Since we could not agree on an approach to briefing the Council that would not compromise the operational security of the arrangement, the meeting was cancelled."

The efficacy of the US-Russian brokered ceasefire which came into effect Monday night has been called into question with the Syrian regime and opposition groups accusing one another of violating its terms.

Meanwhile aid convoys destined for Aleppo have also been stuck in no-man's land between Turkey and Syria having crossed the Turkish border five days ago. The UN has called on the Syrian government to "immediately" allow aid into the besieged rebel-held eastern districts of the city where an estimated 300,000 people are currently living.