Russia warns against US attempts to support Syrian opposition

Attempts by the United States to provide the Syrian opposition with weapons would be "a dangerous step," Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday. Commenting on recent reports the U.S. would send mobile air defense systems to Syrian militants, Lukashevich said the delivery of such dangerous weapons would mean "the arming of international terrorists." According to media reports, the weapons delivered to the Syrian opposition from Qatar and Saudi Arabia "mostly fall into the hands of the Islamic opposition," Lukashevich told reporters. In addition, the U.S. government should stop providing the opposition with financial and logistics support, and instead urge them to participate in political talks with the Syrian government, Lukashevich said. Russia viewed the U.S. as an important partner in seeking a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis and hoped it would make "reciprocal" actions and statements, the Russian diplomat said. Meanwhile, Russia called for the U.S. and other Western countries not to block the Geneva agreements reached by world powers, which was aimed at a political settlement to solve the prolonged conflict, he said.