Britain, France Voice Skepticism on Assad Promises to Russia

Britain and France said on Wednesday they had little confidence in promises made by Syria to Russia over the violent crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Assad's promises to Russia to work towards ending bloodshed in Syria were merely manipulation and should not be believed, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said, as British Prime Minister David Cameron said London had "very little confidence in that."

"I absolutely do not believe in the commitments made by the Syrian regime," Juppe told a radio program. "This is a manipulation which we are not going to fall for."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Tuesday with Assad in Damascus and afterwards said the leader was "fully committed" to ending the violence, even as regime tanks continued to pound the protest city of Homs.

Lavrov said Russia was prepared to work to end the crisis under a peace plan put forward by the Arab League and that Assad was ready for dialogue with all political forces.

He did not specify whether he was referring to the latest Arab League plan calling for Assad to step down or a November plan which called for an observer mission and an end to violence.

"I think we have very little confidence in that," Cameron told parliament when asked about Lavrov's talks with Assad in the Syrian capital on Tuesday.

Cameron said the Russians had to "look at their conscience and realize what they have done" after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria at the weekend.

"Frankly, Russia and China set themselves against Arab opinion and world opinion in passing what would have been a strong and good U.N. resolution," he said.

Britain would now press for stronger EU sanctions and be increasing support for opposition groups inside and outside the country, Cameron said.

London would take a leading role in establishing a "contact group" of countries to create the "strongest possible international alliance" to end the violence in Syria, he added.

Britain on Monday announced that it had recalled its ambassador to Syria for consultations in protest at the mounting bloodshed.

Syria has been in turmoil for almost a year, after pro-democracy protests erupted as part of the Arab Spring series of revolts in the region. Human rights groups estimate that at least 6,000 people have been killed.

Lavrov said on Wednesday that Syrians themselves should decide their fate and pointedly declined to say whether Moscow had asked Assad to stand down, as Western nations have demanded.

"Any outcome of national dialogue should be the result of agreement between the Syrians themselves and should be acceptable to all Syrians," Lavrov told reporters.