Russia Calls West 'Accomplice' in Syria Violence
Russia on Friday accused the West of being an "accomplice" to the violence in Syria and said the country's opposition bore full responsibility for ending the ongoing violence.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Syrian President Bashar Assad's promise to stage a new constitutional referendum meant that it was now up to the armed resistance movement to take the next step.
He also warned that Russia was ready to follow this month's veto of a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on the crisis with additional "strong measures" should the West continue to refuse to acknowledge the opposition's role in the crisis.
"The Syrian leadership has assured us of its readiness to quickly hold a referendum on a new constitution and move toward elections," Ryabkov told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
"This means that the opposition bears full responsibility for improving the situation and finding a way to stop the bloodshed."
"Western states that push the Syrian opposition into uncompromising measures, which arm them and give them advice and instructions are accomplices in the process of inflaming the crisis," he added.
"The responsibility rests with those who while holding the levers of influence over the opposition still fail to call it to order and demand that it accept the Syrian government's offers and begin real talks."
Russia and China used their veto power this month to block a Western-Arab Security Council resolution condemning the Assad regime for the violence.
Moscow accuses the West of planning "regime change" in Syria and fears possible military intervention like that which led to the ouster and ultimate killing of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.
Ryabkov warned Friday that Russia "will have to again and again resort to strong measures" at the Security Council if Western states introduce new resolutions on the crisis that only blame Assad.
He also dismissed joint efforts by the United States and Turkey to organize an international conference on the crisis and possible relief efforts for the opposition.
"Russia does not share the West's views about so-called humanitarian intervention," said Ryabkov.
Source: Agence France Presse
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