Russia: We are not protecting Syria

Russia today insisted the government was not “protecting any regimes” as anger grew among Arab leaders over Moscow’s blocking of international pressure on Syria’s president to step down.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke out in Cairo at a heated meeting of the Arab League as UN envoy Kofi Annan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus to mediate an end to the country’s year-long conflict. Amid the diplomatic efforts, Syrian troops were pushing ahead with a new assault on the northern region of Idlib, one of the centres of the uprising against Assad’s rule.