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Current developments in Syria unacceptable

The Russian side placed the emphasis on the unacceptability of any violence against civilians

UNTED NATIONS, May 31 (Itar-Tass) —— Both the authorities and opposition leaders should understand that the current situation in Syria is unacceptable, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said.

He spoke after a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council where Deputy Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States Jean-Marie Guehenno and U.N. Under-Secretary-General Ban for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous brifed its members on the work of the U.N. monitoring mission in Syria.

According to Churkin, such dynamics “will do no good either to the government or the opposition or the Syrian people”.

He stressed that it is clear to the U.N. Security Council members that “additional bold steps needed to be taken in order to reverse the negative political situation and encourage the sides to implement Kofi Annan’s plan more decisively”.

Churkin stressed that the implementation of the Annan plan “cannot be called satisfactory” as it is “barely implemented by the parties”.

“There is some minor progress in that heavy weapons are used less against settlements, but we know that government troops were reported to have used heavy weapons for strikes during the recent incident in Houla,” he said.

“There is still no complete clarity about what exactly happened in Houla, except that more than 100 people were killed there,” the diplomat said.

The Syrian authorities will announce the results of the investigation of the events in the town of Houla shortly, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after a meeting between Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Syrian Ambassador in Moscow Riayd Haddad earlier this week.

“Haddad stated the official Syrian version of the events in the village of Hula where the dead bodies of several dozen victims of a brutal armed attack were found on May 25. The Syrian side blames it on terrorist groups,” the ministry said.

“The ambassador of Syria stressed that within the next few days the authorities would announce the results of the investigation of this and other criminal acts aimed at inciting an inter-confessional conflict in Syria,” the ministry said.

“The Russian side placed the emphasis on the unacceptability of any violence against civilians and on the need for strict compliance by all sides with Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States Kofi Annan's plan approved by the U.N. Security Council,” it said.

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