IPFS News Link • Syria
Russia urges Syria to support envoy Annan's efforts
• By Steve Gutterman, reuters.comRussia disagrees with many of the decisions Assad's government has made in a year of bloodshed, Sergei Lavrov told state television in an interview, according to a transcript posted on the Foreign Ministry website.
Lavrov's comments did not signal a shift in Russia's stance, but suggested Moscow wants the world to know it is motivated by the urgent need to end the violence in Syria rather than by the desire to prop up a longtime ally.
Russia, with China, on February 4 vetoed a Western-Arab draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned the government for violence the United Nations says has killed more than 8,000 civilians and backed a call for Assad to step aside.