Medvedev calls Annan's peace plan 'Syria's last chance to avoid bloody civil war'

Damascus, Mar 26 (ANI): Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 's peace mission in Syria might be the last chance for Damascus to avoid a 'protracted bloody civil war'.

"We highly value your efforts," Medvedev told Annan, the UN and Arab League envoy to Syria.

"This may be the last chance for Syria to avoid a protracted bloody civil war. Therefore we will provide any assistance at any level," News24 quoted Medvedev, as saying.

Annan was in Moscow for meetings with Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

He will now travel to China, which along with Russia has shielded Syrian leader Bashar Assad from United Nations' sanctions over his crackdown on an uprising.

According to the report, Medvedev's foreign policy adviser, Sergei Prikhodko, recently said that Russia's top priority for Syria is a swift halt to the violence and to persuade the opposition "to sit at the negotiating table with government representatives and reach a peaceful resolution of the crisis". (ANI)