Lavrov Warns Strikes on Syria Would Destabilize Region, Rejects U.S. Arguments

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against a military solution to the Syria conflict, saying it would destabilize the country and the Middle East region, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

In a telephone conversation with U.N.-Arab League Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Lavrov "emphasized the lack of alternative to a diplomatic solution and that attempts for a military solution will lead only to a further destabilization of the situation in the country and the region," the ministry said.

It said both Brahimi and Lavrov agreed "that at this critical moment all sides -- including external players -- must act with the maximum responsibility and not repeat the mistakes of the past."

Lavrov also told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call on Tuesday that Moscow rejects Washington's claim the Syrian regime was behind a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus,

He told Kerry the situation was undermining diplomatic efforts to end the crisis, as expectations grow of Western military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

"John Kerry put forward judgments which he said were based on information from reliable sources and according to which the Syrian government is to blame for the incidents with the probable use of chemical weapons," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"This argument was rejected by Sergei Lavrov, who put forward the corresponding position of the Russian side."

Lavrov said Moscow wanted an objective and substantive exchange of information on the evidence of chemical attacks in Syria.

"Moscow is, as before, particularly worried about the dangerous and already clear line towards a conscious undermining by a number of countries of the conditions for a political-diplomatic solution to the conflict," the statement added.