Putin: ‘Russia will do everything to resolve Syrian crisis’

BERLIN (AP) — President Vladimir Putin says Russia wants to help UN envoy Kofi Annan achieve “positive results” and prevent an all-out civil war in Syria.

Putin, who spoke after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday on his first trip abroad since returning to the presidency, rejected assertions that Moscow is propping up President Bashar Assad’s regime and insisted it doesn’t support any party to the country’s conflict.

Putin says Russia will remain in contact with Assad and the Syrian leadership and will do “everything to resolve this conflict.” He insisted that nothing could be imposed by force but was vague about what “political instruments” exactly Russia might be prepared to use.

Putin says a political solution is possible but patience is needed.

Earlier on Friday Special envoy Kofi Annan said he is “impatient and frustrated” over the continued violence in Syria.

He told reporters in Beirut on Friday that the Syrian president must implement a UN-brokered peace plan following a horrific weekend massacre that killed more than 100 people.

Annan is trying to salvage a truce that he initiated six weeks ago, which calls for a ceasefire by both sides. But the plan has not stopped the country’s violent conflict. A massacre in a cluster of villages known as Houla on Friday and early Saturday has brought fresh condemnation of the Syrian regime.

Many of the dead were women and children who were gunned down inside their homes.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.