Russia said Tuesday it was willing to support either a U.N. Security Council statement or a resolution on peace envoy Kofi Annan's mission to Syria as long as it contained no ultimatums.

"We are ready to back the mission of U.N. and Arab League representative Kofi Annan and the proposals to the government and opposition to Syria," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after holding talks with his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour.

Russia called on Syria Monday to immediately accept demands by the International Committee for the Red Cross for a daily two-hour humanitarian truce after talks with the Geneva-based body's head.

The crucial backing from Moscow to exert stronger pressure on its Soviet-era ally came after ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger huddled with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for about 90 minutes.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stated on Monday that the developments in Syria are not linked to the country’s opposition, reported the National News Agency.

He said: “The crisis is an excuse to settle scores with the ruling regime.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat rejected on Monday Syrian President Bashar Assad’s remarks that his regime will remain, “but Syria will be divided.”

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The political solution that calls for the end of the Syrian regime is the only way to settle the crisis.”

Riot police detained dozens of protesters on Sunday who picketed Moscow's iconic television tower after footage purporting to show people being paid to rally against Vladimir Putin was aired nationally.

An Agence France Presse correspondent saw organizers Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov being led away with about 30 others sporting the white protest ribbons of the nascent movement against Putin's 12-year domination of Russia.

A U.N. team mandated by international envoy Kofi Annan will leave for Damascus on Monday, the former U.N. secretary general's spokesman said.

Russian police detained dozens of opposition protesters Saturday in central Moscow as they tried to hold unsanctioned demonstrations against the jailing of political activists.

Police moved on the activists holding banners at a central square after opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov arrived for a rally, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Russia on Saturday said Syrian peace envoy Kofi Annan was not seeking President Bashar Assad's ouster but a solution to the year-long conflict that suited both the opposition and the regime.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he spoke to Annan shortly after his talks with Assad earlier this month and was informed that the strongman president's resignation was not under discussion.

Russia said Friday it was using its contacts with the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad to urge Damascus to fully cooperate with the mission of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

Speaking ahead of a video conference Annan was to hold with the U.N. in New York later Friday on his mission to find a settlement to the crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said all the U.N. Security Council members had a duty to support his efforts.

The United States on Thursday denied a report that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her Russian counterpart that upcoming talks on Iran's nuclear program were a "last chance" to resolve the long-running standoff.

"The secretary did not send a warning to the Iranians through Foreign Minister (Sergei) Lavrov," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters when asked about the report in Russia's Kommersant daily.