Russia ups pressure on Syria

Meeting his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Syria to act "more decisively" and implement a peace plan brokered by UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan.

"We emphatically demand that our Syrian colleagues - as they have promised - strictly fulfill the terms of the peace plan as laid out by Kofi Annan, the special emissary from the UN and the League of Arab States," Lavrov told reporters.

But he also called on global powers to urge rebels to renounce violence. "It is clear that success is possible only if other members of the international community that have influence on the [warring] Syrian sides, will also work towards a cease-fire in the country with a similar responsible attitude,"

Muallem pointed out that Syria had already begun pulling its troops. "We have already withdrawn forces and army units from several Syrian provinces," he said at the same news conference.

Under Annan's plan, a Syrian troop withdrawal from towns and villages was to begin on Tuesday, with all hostilities to end by 6 a.m. on Thursday.

'Clear violation'

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Syria had clearly violated the border and said his country is considering what steps to take in response, including measures "we don't want to think about."

On Monday, Syrian forces fired across the border at refugees fleeing into Turkey to escape the government crackdown.

Annan arrived at the Turkish-Syrian border on Tuesday to visit the Turkish refugee camp that is providing shelter for about 25,000 refugees.

The UN estimates that more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the unrest began in mid-March 2011.

ng/msh (AP, Reuters, AFP)