Russia said Tuesday it wanted to host a new meeting of foreign powers concerning the Syria crisis but stressed that the talks should not decide the fate of President Bashar Assad.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said the attempt made in Geneva on June 30 to save international envoy Kofi Annan's tattered peace plan for the crisis needed to be continued with the involvement countries such as Iran.

There can be no transition in Syria until President Bashar Assad falls, the Syrian National Council said in a statement on the eve of a visit to Moscow by the opposition group's chief.

"Our main goal is to continue on the path of the revolution and the demands of the Syrian people," the SNC said on Tuesday, emphasizing that its priority was to "work for the fall of the Assad regime and all its symbols."

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun noted on Monday that Lebanon is influenced by all of the developments in the Middle East.

He said during an FPM conference: “Given the very high tensions in the region, we must calm the situation in Lebanon as much as possible in order to prevent an escalation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Syria needed dialogue between the regime and opposition rather than foreign intervention to ensure a lasting peace.

The negligence of local authorities and a failure to learn from past disasters were a prime factor behind the flooding that claimed at least 171 lives in southern Russia, the press said on Monday.

With officials keen to blame freak rains for the disaster, both pro-government and opposition newspapers showed rare unanimity in saying the authorities had badly failed local inhabitants in the worst-hit town of Krymsk.

Russia on Monday hosted a delegation led by top Syrian dissident Michel Kilo for talks as Moscow comes under growing pressure from the West to halt all support for the regime of Bashar Assad.

Kilo's visit to Moscow comes ahead of a similar trip later this week by the head of the opposition Syrian National Council in a rare flurry of diplomacy between Moscow and the Syrian opposition against Assad's regime.

As 3D cinema enjoys a revival with Hollywood blockbusters, an unexpected retrospective in Moscow reveals the Soviet Union began entertaining its citizens with homegrown 3D films as early as the 1940s.

The films may lack the exotic plots of Hollywood 3D films such as James Cameron's 2009 "Avatar" and Ridley Scott's current release "Prometheus" but are of astonishing technical quality and sophistication.

The death toll from severe flash floods in Russia's southern Krasnodar region climbed to 150 people from the figure of 146 released earlier by investigators, a police spokeswoman said Sunday.

The worst hit area was an area around Krymsk, a town of 57,000 lying about 200 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of the Black Sea resort town of Sochi where Russia will host the 2014 Summer Olympic Games.

Severe flash floods and a landslide in Russia's southern Krasnodar region have killed at least 103 people and affected nearly 13,000 in the area's worst natural disaster in decades, officials said Saturday.

President Vladimir Putin was expected to personally inspect the worst-hit areas as officials feared the death toll could go up even further.

Russia on Friday described as "inappropriate" U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remarks at a Friends of Syria meeting that Moscow is holding up progress in resolving the conflict.

"The statement is inappropriate," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the Interfax news agency.