Russian fm says external actors want to change Syrian regime

MOSCOW (A.A) - February 6, 2012 - Russia's foreign minister said on Monday that some external actors wanted to change the regime in Syria. Sergey Lavrov said some external actors, whom he did not want to identify, were willing to change the regime in Syria, however it would do nothing but increase number of victims in that country. Russia had encouraged Damascus to speed up reforms for a few times, and continued to do so, Lavrov told a joint press conference with his Bahraini counterpart in Moscow. Lavrov argued that Syrian opposition had been recommended that it should not reach any compromise with the Syrian regime, and groups armed with that aim only raised number of victims. The foreign minister said making reforms was obligatory in the Middle East, and Middle Eastern nations were heading towards better lives and that change had to be supported. However, reforms should be achieved without any external intervention and nobody should incite civil war, Lavrov said. Lavrov and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service's (SVR) chairman Mikhail Fradkov will visit Damascus on Tuesday to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad upon an instruction from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Over the weekend, Russia and China vetoed a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution calling for al-Assad to step down.