Russia Criticizes Western Support for Syrian Opposition

May 16, 2014

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his weapon during clashes with forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Sheikh Najjar in Aleppo, Syria.

Russia has called "destructive" those Western and Gulf Arab countries that oppose Syria's president, after they agreed to increase support for Syrian President Bashar Assad's opponents.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday that the "Friends of Syria" countries meeting in London had agreed to increase support for moderate elements of the Syrian opposition.

"Unlike some of our Western partners, meeting in London, we work with all Syrian sides, not just with one as if supporting it against the other," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, Interfax reported.

"To us, that approach is prejudiced and destructive," Bogdanov was quoted as saying.

Veto-wielding permanent U.N. Security Council member Russia has given Assad crucial support during the three-year-old conflict in Syria, blocking Western and Arab efforts to push him from power.

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