Syria: Russia refuses to change stance despite William Hague's efforts

Source: Telegraph

By Tom Parfitt, Moscow

6:50PM BST 28 May 2012

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, insisted that "both sides" in Syria's conflict were responsible for the deaths of at least 108 people in the town on Friday, and that Russia was not interested in trying to remove Bashar al-Assad from power.


Mr Lavrov even chided Mr Hague for calling for Mr Assad's departure, saying he doubted the sincerity of those who called for peace while asking for regime change.


Mr Lavrov said there must be no forced regime change and insisted it was unclear who exactly had perpetrated the Houla bloodshed. He admitted there had been Syrian government shelling but added: "We are dealing with a situation in which both sides obviously had a hand in the deaths of innocent people, including several tens of children".

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9295836/Syria-Russia-refuses-to-change-stance-despite-William-Hagues-efforts.html