France Slams Russia Stand on U.N. Resolution

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe implicitly slammed Russia's stance on a draft U.N. resolution on Syria on Saturday, saying there were no grounds to demand a simultaneous halt to violence.

"Currently any possibility of reaching an agreement over a Security Council accord is blocked," Juppe, who will be in New York on Monday to discuss the draft, said at the close of EU foreign ministers' talks in the Danish capital.

"We will not accept that the regime and those fighting against the repression of the regime be considered back to back," he said. "It's up to the regime to take the initiative, to stop the repression."

The resolution aims to clinch a humanitarian ceasefire and access for humanitarian aid in the areas most threatened by violence which the opposition says has already claimed 8,500 lives.

Russia and its diplomatic ally China infuriated the West by vetoing in February a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Assad regime for the bloodshed in Syria and has shown little sign of shifting its policy since.

But Moscow is under huge pressure from the West and Arab states led by Saudi Arabia to start exerting pressure on Assad's regime and support sanctions over the bloody crackdown.

Asked whether he had hoped Moscow could be swayed after Vladimir Putin's re-election to the presidency, Juppe said: "I thought a more consensual dialogue could be engaged with the Russian authorities once the elections were over."

"For the time being this hope hasn't transpired."