- Thanks RedMDer for the help with the background.
Posted on 02/10/2012 4:24:31 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Russia said on Friday that the West was stoking the conflict in Syria by sending weapons to the opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.
In an attempt to deflect criticism of Russia for blocking a U.N. Security Council resolution urging Assad to give up power, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Western states were stirring up trouble in Syria, where Assad has pursued a violent crackdown since March on protests against his 11-year rule.
"Western states inciting Syrian opposition to uncompromising actions, as well as those sending arms to them, giving them advice and direction, are participating in the process of fomenting the crisis," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.
He did not specify which nations were arming Syrian rebels.
On Sunday Russia and China vetoed a Western-Arab draft U.N. resolution that called on Assad to quit. That drew U.S. and European criticism which Russia dismissed as hysterical.
Ryabkov, speaking on a visit to Colombia, said Russia would take "drastic measures" if the West kept trying to intervene in Syria's internal affairs through the Security Council...
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is almost certain to win a presidential election in March, warned the West not to meddle in the affairs of Syria, or those of Russia.
Russia's lower house of parliament adopted a statement on Friday condemning the West for "intervening in other states' affairs and imposing outside decisions on them".
Some lawmakers in the assembly, which is controlled by Putin's ruling party, called for firmer resistance to the West.
"There is criticism in the Duma that Russia's position on Syria is not strong enough. They say Russia should press its point harder," Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, told Reuters.
(Excerpt) Read more at af.reuters.com ...
[snip] Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said... speaking on a visit to Colombia, said Russia would take “drastic measures” if the West kept trying to intervene in Syria’s internal affairs through the Security Council. [/snip]
This had been posted, but pulled due to no source, my thanks to whomever posted it.
Syria: Russia Claims Western Special Forces Fighting with Rebels"According to the latest reports that are now being verified, a foreign special task force has been deployed in Syria," Pushkov Alexei Puskhov, the chairman of Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma reporters on Friday. "If these reports are proved to be true, the scenario will be absolutely the same as it was in Libya."
by Gianluca Mezzofiore
Friday, February 10, 2012
IB Times UK
According to Pushkov, "they [the alleged foreign task force on the ground in Syria] are supporting the opposition and supplying them with arms; they propose an unbalanced resolution that places rigid conditions on Syria's ruling regime, while giving in to the demands of the opposition."
Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the violence, causing anger and disappointment in the international community and inside Syira. Thousands of people demonstrated across the country against Moscow.
There might be upwards of 10,000 Syrian deserters and a sizeable command staff getting organized and trained in Jordan. $ from the Saudi’s, training from the Qatari’s, leftover weapons from Libya.
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