Putin and Merkel call for Kofi Annan's plan to be followed in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls not to predict the failure of
the plan developed by the special envoy of the UN and Arab League,
General Kofi Annan, and to help stop the violence in Syria, RIA Novosti reports.

Putin agreed with Angela Merkel that the overall objective is to
prevent the situation developing into an adverse scenario.

Putin said that during the talks with Merkel, it was agreed
that Russia and Germany and other partners will use all possibilities
to prevent the escalation of violence in Syria and help to achieve
positive results from Annan's mission.

Today, the permanent representative of Russia at the headquarters of
the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, Alexei
Borodavkin, warned that the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the UN should
not be used as a mechanism to launch a military scenario of external
intervention in Syria.

"We are convinced that the settlement of the Syrian crisis is possible
only through political and diplomatic means on the basis of full
compliance by all parties to the peace plan of Annan and the relevant
UN Security Council resolutions," - said Borodavkin.

He criticized the draft resolution on the events of the HRC in Houla,
which he called "a part of strategy" to blame the Syrian authorities
for the massacre and thus put pressure on the UN Security Council.