Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he was going to visit Syria on February 7, together with the Russian intelligence chief Mikhail Fradkov, on the instructions of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, RIA-Novosti reports.
Lavrov has not given any details of the upcoming visit.
There have been 11 months of protests in Syria. At least 5,400 people have been killed, according to the UN. The Syrian authorities blame armed gangs affiliated with al-Qaeda and say more than 2,000 soldiers and police have been killed.
The West has been trying to persuade Moscow to support a resolution effectively authorizing a military operation. Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad’s firm supporters during the uprising against his regime, has repeatedly insisted that the Western drive for a tougher crackdown on Syria is a preparation for a “Libyan scenario.”
