Russia rules out sanctions against Syria

Moscow, 13 March (AKI) - Russia is not in favour of sanctions against Syria in relation to that country's cooperation with a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, the Russian foreign minister has said. Sergey Lavrov's remarks were published in an interview with the daily Vremya Novostei on Monday, after the foreign minister's meeting with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallim. "The probe is going on, and Syria is cooperating with that," Lavrov said. "We will encourage it to fully cooperate, and we don't see any reason for sanctions." Al-Muallim arrived in Russia on Sunday for a three-day visit.

The Syrian foreign minister's visit to Mosow - a traditional ally of Damascus - comes ahead of a new visit on 16 March to Syria by the head of the UN's commission of inquiry into the Hariri killing, Serge Brammertz.

Hariri a prominent critic of Syria's involvement in Lebanon was killed together with 20 other people in a bomb blast in Beirut in February 2005.

The UN probe has implicated several top Syrian security officials in the attack and sources close to Brammertz's commission believe the investigator will quiz Syrian president Basr al-Assad over claims that he threatened Hariri before the former premier's killing.

The top UN envoy for Syria and Lebanon, Terje Roed-Larsen, was also expected to be in Moscow for talks at the same time as the Syrian foreign minister, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.