Russia not to allow no-fly zone in Syria

Moscow will not allow the imposition of a no-fly zone over the conflict-ravaged Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday. "Russia sees no necessity of introducing such measures and considers them counter-productive," spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters. He cited Libya as an example not to be repeated. The imposition of a no-fly zone in Libya in 2011 allowed NATO warplanes to help the rebels topple former leader Muammar Gaddafi. "We don't want a repetition of that in the Syrian conflict and we will not let that scenario to be implemented in principle," the spokesman said, describing the attempts to impose the no-fly zone a "direct violation of international law." The West's attempts to arm Syrian opposition would further delay the new Geneva conference, he warned. "The latest developments and steps undertaken to arm Syrian opposition which leads to serious escalation of the tension in Syria and around, make it even more difficult to speak about the timing (of the conference) than it was a month ago," he said. The spokesman said the situation around Syria rapidly deteriorated, which hampered efforts to convene the conference in the nearest future. A Russia-U.S.-UN tripartite meeting over the proposed international conference on Syria is scheduled on June 25 in Geneva.