Russia calls Clinton's criticism over country's Syria stand 'inappropriate'

Moscow, July 7 (ANI): Russia has slammed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remarks at a Friends of Syria meeting aimed at resolving the conflict, as 'inappropriate'.

At the meeting in Paris, Clinton accused Russia and China of 'holding up progress' in a settlement to the 16-month conflict, saying their stances were 'no longer tolerable'.

Clinton also accused the two nation of supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

According to News 24, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said such remarks went against the declaration agreed at a meeting in Geneva, which made no explicit call for Assad to cede power as a prerequisite in resolving the conflict in a compromise deal.

"The statement is inappropriate. We have heard this numerous times before, but we are concerned that these types of remarks go against the final declaration of the Geneva meeting, which was adopted with the participation of the US secretary of state," Gatilov said.

"There are no conditions for beginning the all-Syrian dialogue in the final declaration," he said.

"As for the Syrian president, we have repeatedly stated that we are not advocates of the Syrian leader," he added. (ANI)