Moscow, October 15 (RHC)-- Russia has criticized the United States for refusing to endorse a statement of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemning a recent terrorist attack on the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus.

“We disseminated a standard text that the Security Council has used multiple times when there were terrorist acts in Europe, Africa and other areas of the world,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a speech at the Russian lower house of parliament on Wednesday, Russia's Sputnik news agency reported.

The Russian embassy in Damascus came under mortar shelling twice on Tuesday morning and the UNSC drafted a brief statement afterwards condemning the attack as a terrorist one. However, the U.S. rejected the wording and purposed to put the blame on the Syrian government which is “responsible for security of embassies and consulates,” rather than classifying the shelling as a terrorist attack.

“Unfortunately, our American colleagues, who are interested in... fighting terrorism, refused to accept the wording that described this as a terrorist act,” Lavrov said, adding: "It is sad that our American colleagues in this case in fact do not side with those who fight against terrorism and condemn terror. Once again we have to speak about double standards.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Lavrov said that the US had refused to host a high-profile Russian delegation for talks on the crisis in Syria, adding that Washington, in an official reply, said that they could not “send a delegation to Moscow and they can't host a delegation in Washington either.”

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had censured Washington for its mindless policies vis-à-vis Syria.