Priority to end Syria bloodshed - Lavrov

SAUDI ARABIA: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday the priority in war-torn Syria must be to end the bloodshed rather than form an opposition bloc, following talks with his Arab counterparts in the Gulf.

"It is essential that an end to bloodshed in Syria is reached," Lavrov told a news conference in Riyadh, adding that a plan to end the violence drafted at the Geneva meeting in June held the key.

"Russia is convinced that the priority is to end the bloodshed. This is what is stipulated by the Geneva plan," he said, according to Arabic translation of his comments.

"We believe it is important, before anything else, that all external parties should work to implement the Geneva plan. No one is doing so," he said.

The Moscow-backed Geneva plan called for all sides in Syria to implement a ceasefire, in line with a proposal by the former UN envoy on the crisis, Kofi Annan, and then to form a transitional government and review the constitution.

But it triggered new disputes between world powers, with the United States and its European allies ruling out any future role for President Bashar al-Assad but Russia saying the transitional government should be decided by Syrians alone.

"We suggested that the UN Security Council adopt the Geneva document, but our partners were not willing to do so," Lavrov said, voicing criticism of calls from Western powers for Assad to stand down.

AFP