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The U.N. Security
Council on Tuesday delayed a vote on sending additional troops to Cote
d’Ivoire, where the blue helmeted peacekeepers have been under attack,
due to Russian objections, council envoys said.

The 15-nation
council was set to vote on a resolution to send an additional 2,000
peacekeepers to help the 10,000 U.N. troops and police in the U.N.
peacekeeping mission in Cote d’Ivoire, known as UNOCI. But diplomats
said Russia raised last-minute objections on Tuesday morning about the
language.

“It’s obviously a
delay tactic,” one diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Another diplomat said council members would have to satisfy Moscow’s
demands in order to get the resolution approved.

“We need Russia on
board,” the diplomat said. “We have to listen to them.” He added that
he hoped the council would vote on the troop increase on Wednesday at
the latest.

British Ambassador
Mark Lyall Grant confirmed that Russia, whose oil giant Lukoil is
exploring for crude in Cote d’Ivoire, had issues with the draft
resolution. “They want a delay in the vote,” he told reporters ahead of
a council meeting. Alassane Ouattara is widely recognized by Western
and African governments as president-elect of Cote d’Ivoire, after the
electoral commission proclaimed him winner of the Nov. 28 presidential
poll. The results were certified by the U.N. mission but rejected by
incumbent Laurent Gbagbo.

Gbagbo has refused to resign and retains control of government buildings, state television and the security forces, while Ouattara’s parallel administration is based in a U.N.-guarded hotel under siege by pro-Gbagbo forces.

Russia, like the
United States, Britain, France and China, is a permanent veto-wielding
council member and can prevent the passage of any Security Council
measure. The resolution, which was drafted by the French, has already
been amended to accommodate Russian objections regarding the explicit
naming of Ouattara, diplomats said.

A Jan. 12 draft
text welcomed declarations of the African Union and west African
regional organization ECOWAS recognizing Ouattara as the president of
the world’s top cocoa producer. The latest version does not mention
Ouattara by name. Reuters obtained both draft resolutions.

One diplomat said
that Russia’s objections to the language “appeared minor on the
surface.” The Russian delegation had asked to reorder several
paragraphs and add language on “freedom of expression,” several
diplomats said.

“They’re not substantive objections,” a diplomat said. “So we’re
really not sure what they are trying to accomplish. The Russians have
been causing problems on Cote d’Ivoire from the beginning because they
think we shouldn’t take sides.”