Russia says too early for new action on Syria

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Russia said on Wednesday it was premature to take new UN action on Syria after the massacre of 108 civilians in Houla and said it remained firmly opposed to foreign intervention in the crisis.
The comments came just a day after the US State Department said it hoped last week’s tragedy would spark a “turning point” in Russia’s reluctance to take tougher action against its Soviet-era ally.
French President Francois Hollande and a growing group of world leaders have refused to rule out armed intervention aimed at stamping out more than 14 months of fighting in which 13,000 people are feared to have been killed.
Russia said the rebuke Syria has already received at the UN Security Council for the massacre went far enough and condemned the “counterproductive” expulsion of Damascus envoys by European and other Western states. “We believe that a review now by the Security Council of any new measures on the situation would be premature,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the Interfax news agency. “It is essential to give the plan of (UN-Arab League envoy) Kofi Annan time to work” because intervention could “only exacerbate the situation for both Syria and the region as a whole,” he added. “And it is also important for all the outside players — including our Western partners — to put corresponding pressure on the opposition.”
The foreign ministry later added that the expulsions by European nations as well as Canada and the United States of Syrian envoys “closed up diplomatic channels that could be used to exchange opinions and put constructive pressure on the government of Syria.”
Another top Russian official said the idea of armed intervention — also supported by nations such as Australia — appeared to be based on “emotions”. “Such statements are driven by political emotion,” said First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov.
UN rights council to meet on Syria Friday

Diplomats will discuss the massacre in the Syrian town of Houla at a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) on Friday, a spokesman said. Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Denmark, the United States and the European Union have requested the meeting to address the “deteriorating human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the killings in Houla,” said a statement from spokesman Rolando Gomez. The request has so far received the support of 21 member states and 30 observers but the list does not include the signatures of China and Russia. The council has previously held three special meetings and an urgent debate to discuss rights abuses committed since the March 2011 crackdown by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Last week’s massacre, which left at least 108 dead, sparked global outrage and prompted many Western nations to expel their Syrian diplomats in protest. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that investigations showed most of those who died were summarily executed, including children. Daily killings continue in Syria despite the April 12 implementation of a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. More than 13,000 people have died in almost 15 months of violence, according to figures from the British-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.