Russia says UN bid on Syria pointless

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday rejected French-led appeals for the UN Security Council to weigh in on the Syria crisis in the wake of mob attacks on Western embassies.

Lavrov, in a joint news conference in Washington with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said that diplomacy was about more than “political scores.”

“Our goal is to solve problems, but just condemning people without any solution will not lead us to anything,” Lavrov said.

Human rights groups say Syrian security forces have killed at least 1,300 civilians and arrested more than 12,000 in a sweeping crackdown on dissent following a wave of protests across the Arab world.

China and Russia, which hold veto power on the UN Security Council, have persistently blocked a Western-drafted resolution on Syria. France has stepped up calls for UN action after mobs attacked the US and French embassies in Damascus.

Countries such as China and Russia “must accept common rules — one does not deal with one’s opposition with cannon fire,” French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told the LCI news channel.

Three French staff were injured in the embassy attacks by mobs backing President Bashar al-Assad, which took place after the US and French ambassadors visited the flashpoint city of Hama.