Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- China and Russia eased their opposition at the United Nations to a U.S. draft resolution threatening Syria with economic punishment for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Chinese and Russian envoys said they wouldn't veto the measure, drafted by the U.S. and France, which says the Security Council would consider imposing sanctions on Syria unless the government in Damascus cooperates with a UN investigation of the crime. The text also would ban the travel and freeze the assets of anyone the UN names as suspects.

``I don't think it will go that far,'' Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said when asked whether he would cast a veto.

Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov said talks were `on the right track'' and that his government wasn't considering a veto.

German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis said in an Oct. 20 report on Hariri's assassination Feb. 14 in Beirut that Syria has cooperated ``in form, not substance'' and ``made it difficult to follow leads established by the evidence.'' He said seven senior Syrian officials, including the brother and brother-in-law of President Bashar-al-Assad were suspects in Hariri's murder.

The U.S. and France, which circulated the first version of their resolution on Oct. 25, built support by revising the text to say a committee of the Security Council would determine targets of any sanctions. The original version said Mehlis would identify suspects subject to the travel ban and asset freeze.

``With these improvements it is less difficult for me,'' Wang said.

Oct. 31 Vote

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said he would call for a vote on the resolution at an Oct. 31 meeting to be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and foreign ministers of the 14 other council members.

``I think a lot of questions have been answered and some potential problems overcome,'' Bolton told reporters. ``I'm still optimistic that we're going to have a resolution for the ministers to approve on Monday.''

Wang and Denisov, along with envoys from Algeria and at least three other of the 15 Security Council member governments, continued to voice concerns about the threat of sanctions and provisions of the resolution that call for Syria to ``stop meddling'' in Lebanese affairs and cease all support for terrorist groups.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 28, 2005 18:08 EDT