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Russia slams harsher tone against Syria regime

31 May 2012 00:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russia condemned as counterproductive a harsher diplomatic tone against the Syrian government on Wednesday, as the opposition accused Moscow of encouraging "savage crimes" in the country, APA reports quoting AFP.

In the wake of a massacre near the central town of Houla last week, some Western powers have raised the prospect of armed intervention in Syria, after many of them expelled Syrian diplomats in a coordinated response to the atrocity.

The moves prompted cries of protest from Russia and China, Syriaâ€™s allies at the UN Security Council, which has condemned the killing of 108 people, mainly women and children, near Houla on Friday and Saturday.

A monitoring group reported meanwhile that at least another 39 people were killed in Syria on Wednesday, in addition to a newly discovered massacre of 13 people apparently killed execution-style at Assukar, in the east.

Russia said the rebuke Syria has already received at the Security Council for the massacre went far enough and condemned the "counterproductive" expulsion of Damascusâ€™s envoys.

"We believe that a review now by the Security Council of any new measures on the situation would be premature," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.

"It is essential to give the plan of (UN-Arab League envoy) Kofi Annan time to work," because intervention could "only exacerbate the situation for both Syria and the region as a whole," he told the Interfax news agency.

"And it is also important for all the outside players -- including our Western partners -- to put corresponding pressure on the opposition."

The foreign ministry later added that the expulsions by European nations as well as Canada and the United States of Syrian envoys "closed up diplomatic channels that could be used to exchange opinions and put constructive pressure on the government of Syria."

Another top Russian official said the idea of armed intervention -- also supported by nations such as Australia -- appeared to be based on "emotions".

"Such statements are driven by political emotion," said First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov.

"There is a medical principle that says â€™do not make it worseâ€™. We should not forget it. The most important thing is to remain realistic about what is happening in Syria," Denisov said.

French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday he did not rule out military intervention, provided it were approved by the Security Council.

"An armed intervention is not excluded on the condition that it is carried out with respect to international law, meaning after deliberation by the United Nations Security Council," he said.

Australia said it was open to discussing military intervention, but warned of the significant challenges involved in getting it off the ground.

But Germany said "there is no reason to speculate over military options regarding the situation in Syria."

A furious statement from the oppositionâ€™s Syrian National Council accused Moscow of "trying to prevent an international condemnation" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The exile group said Russia was providing the regime with political cover, "encouraging it to continue committing savage crimes that target civilians, including women and children."

Moscowâ€™s stance and the "weapons the Russian government has given the Syrian regime... has turned Moscow into an accomplice with the regime in an attempt to spark a civil war," it added.

Beijing restated its opposition to armed intervention in Syria.

"China opposes military intervention in Syria and opposes regime change by force," said foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, who urged all parties to implement Annanâ€™s plan and to seek to end the crisis through negotiations.

Russia had together with China blocked two Security Council resolutions condemning Assad out of concern that any such measure could be interpreted as open licence for an attack aimed at ousting his regime.

On Tuesday alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a total of 98 people were killed across Syria with another 39 dying violently on Wednesday.

Among those killed was an 18-year-old man shot dead by unidentified assailants in Deir Ezzor, where state media said "armed terrorist groups" blew up an oil pipeline.

At Assukar in the same province, visiting UN military observers condemned the killing of 13 people whose bodies were discovered late on Tuesday, many of whom had been shot at close range, they said.

Morethan 13,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians, since an uprising erupted against Assadâ€™s regime in March 2011, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

The Security Council was holding talks on Syria on Wednesday, with diplomats at the closed briefing saying UN officials had given a "sombre" account of the Houla massacre as well as the discovery of the 13 bodies at Assukar.