Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Laurent Fabius spoke about this to the press after emerging from talks in Paris on Wednesday.

Mr Lavrov said the Syrian crisis cannot be solved by force, and bringing it to an end supposes a ceasefire and a subsequent dialogue between the opposing sides in Syria. He also said that trying to oust President Bashar Assad would only make matters worse.

The Russian Minister accused unnamed outside powers of arming and funding the Syrian rebels.

Voice of Russia, TASS, RIA