MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria on Sunday that his mission may be the final opportunity for Syria to avoid “a protracted bloody civil war” and promised Russia’s full support.
Kofi Annan was in Moscow for meetings with Russia’s president and foreign minister. Next he was to travel to China, which along with Russia has shielded Syrian leader Bashar Assad from the United Nations’ sanctions over his crackdown on the country’s opposition. More than 8,000 people have been killed since the uprising began a year ago.
“We highly value your efforts,” Medvedev told Annan during the televised portion of their meeting. “This may be the last chance for Syria to avoid a protracted bloody civil war. Therefore we will provide any assistance at any level.”
The U.N. Security Council last week endorsed Annan’s six-point plan, which includes talks and a daily two hour halt in the fighting to provide humanitarian aid.
“Syria has an opportunity today to work with me and this mediation process to put an end to the conflict, to the fighting and really to allow access to those in need of humanitarian assistance as well as embark on the political process that will lead to a peaceful settlement,” Annan told Russia’s president.
Syria is Russia’s last remaining ally in the Middle East and is a major customer for its arms industry. But Moscow has recently shown impatience with Syria, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointedly criticizing Assad for being too slow to implement long needed changes.
Lavrov met earlier in the day with Annan and urged him to work with both sides in the Syrian conflict to end the violence, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Lavrov also called on the international community not to support one side over the other, the statement said.
However, seeking to stem the violence in Syria, the U.S. and other key allies are considering providing Syrian rebels with communications help, medical aid and other “nonlethal” assistance.
President Barack Obama discussed the potential aid options Sunday in a lengthy private meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Both leaders were in Seoul, South Korea, for a nuclear security summit.
Turkey has been a key U.S. partner in international efforts to quell violence in its neighboring country.
Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, said Sunday that communications assistance could be critical to the opposition’s efforts.
“It’s important to the opposition as they’re formulating their vision of an inclusive and democratic Syria to have the ability to communicate,” Rhodes told reporters traveling with Obama.
The U.S. has been loath to intervene militarily in Syria or provide the rebels with weapons, saying that would only serve to further militarize an already violent situation. The Obama administration and its allies have been seeking ways to provide humanitarian assistance in Syria.
Rhodes said the prospect of providing the rebels with nonlethal assistance would be a central focus of the meeting next Sunday of the diplomatic group “Friends of Syria.” Turkey is hosting the coming meeting, and the U.S. will be represented by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The U.N. refugee agency estimates 230,000 Syrians have fled their homes since the uprising against Assad’s regime began last year. About 16,000 refugees live in camps in Turkey.
“‘We cannot remain a spectator to these developments,” Erdogan said after his meeting with Obama.
Meanwhile, Syrian forces attacked flash-point areas Sunday, carrying out raids and fighting with rebels. Syrian activists reported clashes in Daraa, the southern province where the uprising began last March.
A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army, Muneef al-Zaeem, said government troops invaded the town of Nawa, which has a population of 100,000.
Activists also reported heavy shelling in the central city of Homs and clashes between security forces and the Free Syrian Army near Damascus. Sixty people died, said the Local Coordination Committees activist group. The reports could not be independently verified, because Syria limits journalists’ access.
As the violence continued, Human Rights Watch on Sunday accused Syrian forces of using civilians as human shields during recent military operations.
In a new report, the New York-based international watchdog said the Syrian army and pro-regime gunmen forced residents to march in front of them as they advanced on opposition-held areas in the northern Idlib province earlier this month.
The group cited witnesses who said it was clear that the purpose of the marching order was to protect the army from attack.
“By using civilians as human shields, the Syrian army is showing blatant disregard for their safety,” said Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Syrian army should immediately stop this abhorrent practice.”
Also Sunday, a leader of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood said the group wants a democratic state where freedom of worship is guaranteed for all and women have full rights.
The group wants a post-Assad Syria that will respect its international pacts and will seek fair trials for those involved in wrongdoings against protesters, Ali al-Bayanouni said at a news conference in Istanbul.
Al-Bayanouni was reading a statement by the group, which is banned by the regime of Assad. Membership of the group is punishable by death, according a 1980s law.
Information for this article was contributed by Lynn Berry, Ben Feller, Elizabeth A Kennedy and Dale Gavlak of The Associated Press; by Nayla Razzouk of Bloomberg News; and by Alice Fordham of The Washington Post.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/26/2012