Quote Originally Posted by PanzerJaeger View Post
As was recently made clear in regard to the Syrian situation, Russia and China act in the same manner as the other members of the council; that is to say, they act in their best interests and not with what could honestly be considered altruistic intentions. Put simply, a case was made that those interests would be better served in a world without Gaddafi.
If they wanted Ghadaffi gone, they would simply have voted along with the USA, France etc. Futhermore they wouldn't have criticized the other countries for aiding the rebels so much - because that does nothing to increase their popularity with the new Libyan leaders.

It seems much more plausible that they, too, believed that widespread reprisals against civilians were imminent and that they allowed the resolution to pass furthermore because they didn't have significant interests in keeping friendly relations with Ghadaffi.