Russia will not change its position on Syria despite pressure from outside, Russian acting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
“There are people who want to put pressure on us to change our position. We will not concede to this pressure,” Lavrov said at a press conference after talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing.
Russia and China have twice vetoed the UN Security Council resolutions over what they called a pro-rebel bias since the start of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but have given their full backing to the peace plan proposed by the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan.
Lavrov also said that despite some countries’ efforts to “explode the situation” in Syria, the UN Security Council would not give the green light for military intervention.
More than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak of a popular uprising against Assad in March, 2011, the UN said.
