MOSCOW. June 24 (Interfax) - Russia has rejected the accusations of the United States that it is fanning tension in Syria.
"The American side is coming up with far-fetched accusations that somehow by supporting Damascus Russia allegedly fans tension in Syria," a Monday commentary of the Russian Foreign Ministry information and press department says.
Last weekend U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad led to the intensification of hostilities in Syria.
The ministry expressed grave concern about the decision of the meeting of the Group of Friends of Syria last Saturday attended by the foreign ministers of the United States, Great Britain, France and several countries of the region on urgent arms deliveries to the radical opposition in Syria.
"This information from Doha cannot help arousing serious concern. It is coming amid media reports that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are building up deliveries of armaments to Syrian militants who are trained at bases in Turkey and Jordan by American and French instructors," the commentary says.
"It must be noted that the intensions declared in Doha and carried out into practice to actually render unlimited military support for the opposition in Syria and fully contradict the objective of a speedy political settlement in that country," the ministry notes.
"In reality the lawful government of Syria has expressed readiness to take part in an international conferences in compliance with the Russian-U.S. initiative. Meanwhile, the National Coalition and several other Syrian opposition groups, unfortunately, have still not confirmed intentions of participating in the forum without any preliminary conditions as Russia and the United States called for in Moscow on May 7," commentary says.
"It is clear that new additional armaments that risk falling into the hands of terrorists can ultimately only prompt the opposition to a military solution destructive for Syria," it says.
The Russian Foreign Ministry again urged "Western and regional partners to concentrate on promoting the speedy termination of any violence in Syria and to guarantee a political settlement in that country."