Russia accuses West of fuelling tension in Syria

MOSCOW, Nov 17 (KUNA) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused the West of straining tension in Syria to justify intervention in the events there.
In press statements following his meeting with High Commissioner for Foreign and Security Policy in the European Union Catherine Ashton here, Lavrov said external actors are trying to speed up pace of escalation in Syria and making it take dramatic turn to justify foreign interference in Syrian affairs.
Russia does not want the situation in Syria to develop just like the scenario of Libya, the Russian top diplomat said.
He went on to say that the situation in Yemen is not less dangerous than in Syria, but in the Yemeni case all try to help achieve a peaceful settlement.
He expressed surprise at the lack of such behavior in dealing with Syria. Syrian opposition is getting more weapons from neighboring countries, Lavrov said. He underlined the existence of armed men among the protesters is no secret and these militants have other goals not including reform and democracy. Lavrov stressed that Russia understands the demands of peaceful demonstrators and calls for investigation without delay in violence against them.
He warned that a large-scale civil war will break out in Syria if the opposition used the weapons it receives from neighboring countries.
The Russian official renewed the call for all parties to stop the violence, stressing the need for meeting with representatives of these parties in the Arab League headquarters.
He pointed out that the Arab League initiative for resolving the crisis would be meaningless if the opposition insisted, backed by foreign nations, on setting President Bashar Al-Assad resignation as a condition to start the dialogue.
Lavrov urged the opposition not to boycott the dialogue, saying that betting on foreign forces to help bring down the regime in Syria is not a responsible approach.
For her part, Ashton urged Syrian President to step down.
She warned that the situation can't continue the same way in Syria, citing the killing of 3,500 people, injuring and arresting of thousands of others.
Syria's future depends on the ability of the international community to exert pressure to stop the violence, she underlined, expressing confidence that the situation will change in a positive way there in the next few days.
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