Germany asks Russia to stop backing the Syrian regime

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle asked Russia to change its supporting stance towards the Syrian regime ahead of the Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Berlin and Paris on Friday. "Russia and its stance towards the Assad regime plays a key role in the Syrian crisis,"Westerwelle told the German daily Die Welt today. "In our view Russia should recognize that we are not working against Russian strategic interests when we want to stop the violence in Syria," he said. The German Foreign Minister warned of any military intervention in Syria saying, "We must not give the impression in this difficult situation that military intervention is the road to a quick fix," "The political and diplomatic paths are extremely difficult but we must pursue them." Westerwelle noted. The German Foreign Minister stressed he believes that Annan's six-point plan is still considered the best solution to the Syrian crisis. Putin is set to hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to tackle some issues including the Houla massacre and the violence in Syria. Russia and China are both opposing the UN Security Council on increasing sanctions against Syria or any possible UN intervention to stop violence in Syria.(QNA)