MOSCOW, (SANA)- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed the hope that all attempts to foil the work of the mission of the international observers in Syria will not succeed, expressing regret at the existence of a blackmail in media that depends on unreliable sources.

The Russia Today TV Channel quoted Lavrov as saying, in a press conference on Tuesday at Dushanbe, "I hope that all those who try to foil the work of the UN observers mission in Syria will not be able to carry out their plans", asserting that the mission has played 'a positive role'.

He also expressed the hope that the number of the observers will increase soon to 300 persons as it was endorsed by the UN Security Council's resolution No. 2043.

He pointed out that the more number of the observer were large, the more information based on objective facts we get, asserting that the work of the observers is undoubtedly "a positive factor".

Pushkov: Western Countries Began to Realize Wrongness of Previous Stances Over Syria

Alexei Pushkov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee for International Affairs, said that implementing the plan of the UN Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan doesn't depend only on Russia but also on the so-called 'Friends of Syria' who are supporting the armed opposition.

In statements made before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, Pushkov added that the stances of the western countries concerning President Bashar al-Assad were not realistic.

Pushkov, Head of the Russian Delegation, said that there is a change in the stances of the (PACE) over the crisis in Syria.

Churkin: Dealing with Syrian Crisis Should be through Comprehensive Dialogue under Syrian Leadership

Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said "We want a comprehensive Syrian dialogue under a Syrian leadership," adding that Syria will not breach its obligations regarding Annan's plan as they realize that the crisis cannot be solved by force.

In an interview with the American CNN TV., Churkin said that "dealing with the Syrian crisis should be through laying the foundation for a political process right now or to wait for 3 or 4 years of bloodshed as it is the case in Iraq where more than 100 thousand citizens were killed.

He added that "the role of the Security Council is not changing regimes … if there is a country which suffers a crisis, the countries of the world should help this country find a peaceful political way out of that crisis.

Churkin said " when we saw some of the resolutions, which included sanctions, we knew that those were resolutions which aimed at regime change by force, which would, in turn, lead only to much more bloodshed in Syria, indicating that Syria has a strong army and President al-Assad does have support among the population.

"So this easy way, which incidentally succeeded in Libya, 57000 people were killed and the country is still in a very difficult situation," said Churkin, adding that Russia is against such kind of scenario in Syria as the national and regional consequences will be " dramatic".

He said that "The conflict in Syria could have been ended since last August when Russia presented a draft resolution to the Security Council calling upon all sides to halt violence and to start a comprehensive political dialogue under political leadership but instead of that they tried to issue a resolution which aims to change the regime so Russia had to reject it and use the veto."

Chizhov: Syrians Alone Should Decide Destiny of their Country

Permanent Representative of Russia to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, stressed the need for the Syrians alone to decide the destiny of their country without any foreign interference, adding that the decision is a Syrian affair.

In a statement today, Chizhov said that "We want this decision to be a result of a political dialogue, not as a consequence of outside prescriptions imposed by other countries nor a result of foreign military intervention."

He pointed out that Russia considered the sanctions in regard to the situation in Syria or any other situation don’t lead to a political settlement, adding that Russia's stance towards sanctions against Syria, including the EU countries which imposed the sanctions, is clear.

He stressed the necessity of halting violence and close supervision of ceasefire by the UN observers mission, in addition to beginning a political dialogue with the participation of all political forces in Syria which may help make a decision by the Syrians themselves.

Russian Military Official Stresses Continuity of Military Cooperation between Russia and Syria

Russia's Deputy Premier in charge of Defense and Space Industry, Dmitry Rogozin, stressed that Russia will continue military and technical cooperation according to the existing agreements between the two countries in this regard.

Russia Today website quoted Rogozin as saying in a statement to the journalists that "Only a UNSC resolution could ban exporting weapons from Russia to Syria and since such a resolution does not exist, we won't commit ourselves to fulfill additional obligations."

He said that Russia supplies several countries with defense arms including advanced air-defense missiles, adding that S-300 missile system is not among the exported arms.

Russian Diplomatic Source: Lavrov to Hold Talks with Representatives of Syrian Opposition Thursday

A well-informed Russian diplomatic source said that Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks next Thursday with representatives of the 'Front for Change and Liberation' from the Syrian opposition.

The Russian Source added that the delegation of the Syrian opposition will arrive in Moscow on Wednesday.

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