MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister is urging other countries to try to persuade all sides in the Syrian conflict to stop the violence.
Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that although the international community is united in its desire to see an end to Syria’s bloodshed, there are “rather serious disagreements” on how to achieve that.
The foreign minister, in a speech at Moscow’s Institute of International Relations, criticized nations that favor outside military intervention in Syria.
“Every foreign player should make all Syrian sides, particularly those with whom they have special influence, stop the violence,” he said.
“When they say the government should stop violence first … that is either naive or a provocation” Lavrov said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Syrian leaders in Tehran on Friday that the responsibility for halting violence was on Damascus.
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Earlier on Saturday the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 18 unidentified bodies were found outside Damascus, and said that summary executions by both sides in the conflict were on the increase.
According to the UK-based watchdog, most of the bodies had their hands tied and showed indications of torture.
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