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On Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) said that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Intelligence Service Chief Mikhail Fradkov intend to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to launch democratic reforms to stabilise the situation in the riot-hit Middle Eastern country. The statement came as Lavrov and Fradkov are going to Damascus to hold talks with the Syrian president on 7 February, after Russia and China blocked a Morocco-proposed draft resolution on Syria that called on al-Assad to step down. In a statement, the MID said, “Russia, acting in concert with other countries, is firmly set upon seeking the quickest stabilisation of the situation in Syria along the paths of a quick implementation of long-overdue democratic transformations. For this purpose, on instruction of President Dmitri Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Intelligence Service Chief Mikhail Fradkov will visit Damascus on 7 February to meet with President Bashar al-Assad. We hope that during the expected discussion of the Syrian issue at the upcoming meeting of the League of Arab States Council of Foreign Ministers that they’ll take a decision in the interests of the current moment to extend the Arab observer mission, which has proven efficiency as a factor in the de-escalation of violence”.
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On Sunday, several dozen Syrian protesters stormed the Russian embassy in Libyan capital of Tripoli, a day after Russia and China blocked a UN resolution on Syrian crisis. According to witnesses, several dozen protesters, condemning the Russian and Chinese decision to block a UN resolution against Syria, climbed onto the roof of the embassy, and desecrated a Russian flag. A witness of the protest told RIA-Novosti, “It wasn’t the first protest near the embassy, but the previous ones were peaceful in nature. However, this time, people were very aggressive”. The MID reported that no one, including Russian diplomats, was injured in the attack, saying, “The Libyan authorities have expressed their apologies and assured us that the incident would be thoroughly investigated and that security would be provided to our diplomatic mission in Tripoli”.
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On Sunday, the newspaper La Libre Belgique quoted Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders as saying that the EU may introduce a new package of sanctions against Syria. Reynders said, “Belgium would actively contribute to this process (preparation and adoption of sanctions) together with its European partners”. On 23 January, the EU adopted its latest sanctions against Syria, they target 22 top Syrian officials and eight companies with a ban on travel to the EU and a freeze on their assets in Europe. Reynders’s statement comes as the “international community” tightened its pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who’s believed to be behind the brutal crackdown on the opposition.
5 February 2012
RIA-Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120205/171158189.html
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120205/171160983.html
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120205/171162539.html
