Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia would veto future U.N. Security Council sanctions aimed at toppling anti-western political regimes by Western powers

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Friday that Russia would veto future U.N. Security Council sanctions aimed at toppling anti-western political regimes by Western powers.

“Russia will continue standing against attempts to legitimize through the U.N. Security Council unilateral sanctions aimed at toppling various regimes," Medvedev said.

"The U.N. was not created for that," Medvedev said, "We should recognize clearly that the goal of the U.N. and especially the U.N. Security Council, which bears special responsibility for the fate of world peace, is not to give a pretext for drawing up documents allowing the attainment of certain ends in a military way."

In his meeting with members of the Russian Security Council, the president also said that the Syrian leadership will have to leave office if it cannot carry out necessary reforms but stressed that the decision should be only made by the Syrian people.

"If the Syrian leadership is unable to complete such reforms, it will have to go. But this decision should not be made by NATO or certain European countries, it should be made by the Syrian people and the Syrian government," Medvedev said. Russia is interested in an early end to the crisis in Syria, he added.

Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Syria, saying the draft was based on "a philosophy of confrontation" and ran counter to a peaceful settlement of the crisis.