Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the bloodshed in Syria as “outrageous” and urged opponents of President Bashar al-Assad inside and outside the country to form a united front to end the crisis. Lavrov met with foreign ministers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for more than two hours in Riyadh but failed to reach common ground on how to end the bloodshed that has claimed more than 38,000 lives in Syria. Lavrov was hoping to raise Moscow’s profile in a region where its influence is at risk after blocking three United Nations resolutions meant to put pressure on Assad to end the bloodshed. “We believe the bloodshed should be stopped,” Lavrov told a joint news conference with the Bahraini Foreign Minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, after the talks in the Saudi capital. “What is happening in Syria is outrageous,” he added, speaking through an interpreter. Sheikh Khaled said the two sides agreed to “keep working together to remove obstacles and points of disagreement” through further dialogue and meetings at various levels.
