mr. lavrov is said to be carrying a plan for a political solution, but he said little about it. he does want president al-assad to move more swiftly on reforms and he would also like to get a dialogue under way between its regime and opponents. but most of them regard russia as part of the problem, not the solution. bbc news, the roof. >> sergei lavrov's mission to damascus comes just days after russia vetoed a u.n. security council resolution, attracting a great deal of criticism from the west. russia is serious's most prominent ally and there are close economic ties between the two. a russian investments in syrian infrastructure are thought to be worth at least $20 billion. russia is expanding its use of the syrian naval base and has maintained arms supplies to damascus throughout this crisis. with me now from the city of .oms is of the bbc's paul wood tell us what the situation is like on the ground now. >> we just heard another artillery in fact. -- impact. pretty consistently from about 6:00 a.m., very much from the pattern of yesterday. we heard a lot of heavy machine gun

is scheduled to visit damascus on tuesday where he will be meeting with syrian president assad on mr lavrov said moscow has no special concerns about president assad but has concerns about security in the world the security council meeting comes amid reports from syria of a new crackdown in the city of homs with hundreds reported dead damascus claims the killings were carried out by terrorists seeking to influence the un vote r.t. sarah ferguson has just returned from reporting in the region shares her insights. with regards to the situation in homes at the moment it's very hard to get a gauge on the accuracy of the figure is certainly a really high priority to try and get some kind of accurate information coming out from that because you know that does play a big part in how the international community are now going to respond to the situation certainly in the country the situation is that these people you've got an increasingly polarized country you've got a situation that just seems to be escalating all the time and these armed conflicts breaking out in areas with civilian populations an

outcome of our national dialogue a mind among political forces in syria we did get to hear from mr lavrov and here's a little bit more of what he had to say regarding the draft text. through sed. go to the issue of the government is completely. the mission of the groups for the institution of. the state institutions. and the government to see the police to do months that is to do no demur and so that is through the lobby groups except the blue shield spoke of this about the do it once the government the much more specific. now russia's prime minister will visit can ask for talks with president assad on tuesday now it comes amid reports from stern of a new crackdown in the city of homs with hundreds allegedly killed damascus claims that the killings were carried out by terrorist groups seeking to influence the u.n. decision a decision that we will be following and monitoring and reporting on in the hours to come absolutely our teams were an important ally for us with that update from new york thank you. well the security council meeting comes amid reports from syria of a new crackdown in t

mr. lavrov has in mind for his visit. clearly the russians on a different track from the rest of us. it's been difficult to talk with them. gives regular attention and britain contributed to icrc helping with funds for people who have been displaced. of course he's ready to work with other countries on any further developments in that regard. the russian general correctly praised the police, metropolitan police involved in protecting the syrian embassy. there are regular meetings. there's a monthly review meeting between the home office and foreign office on the protection of all embassies. well laid contingency plans in the case of the syrian embassy. those, of course, put into operation this weekend. there were about 150 protesters there on saturday, three of him by climbing up scaffolding managed to enter a first floor window of the syrian embassy. the police presence there was further reinforced. that presence has continued. it will be reviewed today. i think they did a very gooding normal channels are working well between the foreign office and home office. he asked for an asses

mr. lavrov paid lip service to the arab league. >> we are ready to do all we can to solve the crisis based on the plan of november the second, last year. president assad gave his commitment to end the violence, no matter where it is from. >> there has been frantic attempts to read but the diplomatic effort. there is a critical difference between libya. no military intervention. that removes one very powerful lever which made all the difference for those who wanted to the regime change. more confused scenes of violence coming out of the internet. there is said to be more killing in deraa. this is another funeral in homs during a lull in the shelling. so far, diplomacy has failed. if the killing continues, pressure will go for outside powers to arm the rebels. there is an unstoppable slide into civil war. >> as jeremy mentioned, russia has come under intense criticism for vetoing the resolution over the weekend. what is the endgame? earlier, i spoke to a fellow at the carnegie endowment. how critical is the russian role of what is happening? >> the irony is that russia was probably more impo

by the leadership of the foreign minister mr lavrov and the idea was kind of. multi fall to profile even more our country russia in the field of human rights democracy and rule of law and those are very much interconnected in the interlinked elements obviously and spheres. to provide for additional opportunities for dialogue with our partners and when i say partners i mean the equate the broad spectrum of those . country is. international going as asians and institutions non-governmental institutions. and also of course to mourn it are the first and foremost they will see to monitor the situation in the field of human rights democracy the rule of law . broad it means in the world. the underlying idea is their. human rights are universal this is the general recognition and the common recognition is a trained in the universal declaration and the many other documents in common and so on on human rights it means that human race are for everybody. all people have the right to enjoy his liberty to enjoy human race on the on the other hand all states have to. implemen

that president assad has agreed to talks with the opposition groups he has also agreed according to mr lavrov to follow the arab league's road map for increasing the number of observers in syria also president assad has agreed to send a government delegation to moscow which would meet with representatives of the opposition group now the syrian national council has agreed to allow moscow to mediate the roadmap for dialogue between the two sides this is an enormous positive sign considering the kind of standoff that the dividing parties have had in syria and the internet international community has had on reaching some type of consensus on how or how to approach the circumstance in a peaceful and fair manner now russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said that moscow is committed to bringing peace and balance to syria but he also called on both sides of the conflict to needy and lee lay down their weapons and put a halt to the violence. our approach is based on a clear and simple goal to stop civilian deaths the region needs peace syria needs peace it is clear that efforts to end the violence

mr. lavrov, point out to him the statement to be put out by the opposition syrian national council today? and which the accused russia and china, and i quote these words, responsible for the escalating act of killing, and then went on to say that the use that of the security council is come to use their words, tantamount to the license to kill with impunity. will not rush of very very heavy responsibility if syria now descends into bloody and protracted civil war? >> i agree with my right honorable friend, and that is why i have very strong language of my own and in a statement today. these vetoes are a betrayal of the syrian people and are increasingly responsible for the situation in syria and some of the slaughter that is taking place there. on the basis of their own national interest whether it is a very sensible policy to carry on in this way. they are putting their backs on the arab world and would reduce their influence in the middle east and this is a regime that they are backing a regime that is doomed in any case. i am planning after the visit today and no doubt have well expres

well i think this is a huge thing for actually mr lavrov and specially the head of national security there because first of all they know exactly like i said what's happening but the thing is they want to actually get more proof for the the whole world to understand them to know is what's happening there is not not a regime change this is an act of terrorism and there's gangs that's killing syrians left and right so basically when you're completely denying the government crackdowns on the people who are protesting for example the city of homes well i'll tell you something no definitely of course something i have because first of all this is it's in outrage for somebody to believe and it's an insanity that during during the time of a u.n. resolution is being taking down toward syria the syrian government is going to actually crack down on homeless this is definitely an act of terrorism done by the by the by the gangs that's already been getting money and weapons from different countries so they can bring down this regime so this isn't an outrage for somebody to actually believe that t

states can lead to chaos in international relations while attending a security conference in munich mr lavrov raised his concerns about the current draft resolution saying it is unbalanced because it makes you too demands of armed groups in syria. the truest. condemnation of the government is. much greater for the mission of the groups for the intimidation of the for the attacks against the state institutions. and then the government receives a list of demands what it is to do no demand is through the lobby groups except the stroke of oil is about the do it once the government the much more specific. russia's foreign minister is scheduled to visit damascus on tuesday when he where he will be meeting with president assad minister lavrov said moscow has no special concerns about the syrian president but has concerns about security in the world and that issue of security of course is being taken up in new york today as security council needs we will be covering developments on this story if a vote takes place it for a shield as you tell it of horsemen we'll update our viewers as more information

security council to delay the vote for several days in order to allow mr lavrov to complete his trip to damascus now they were requested by the u.n. security council heading to damascus on tuesday bearing with him a message from president dmitri medvedev a message. it's believed to request the assad government make strong democratic changes in the country now the foreign ministry very unhappy about this the russian government very unhappy in fact going as far as to call it disrespectful to allow the not allow the vote to be delayed until. it completed that trip now. with regards to the comments that it be made from around the world following that decision by china and russia to veto the u.n. resolution with a condemnation from the united states from france from great britain the foreign secretary in great britain going as far as to say that this meant there was blood on the hands of those that had vetoed it well so very unhappy about these comments he was speaking at a press conference alongside people here in a foreign minister he said that he was scathing in his response to those c

mr. lavrov goes to damascus tomorrow and remind him of the serious damage russia is doing to its own of long-term interest in the middle east. if he does speak to mr. love of point of the statement is being put out by the opposition of the national council today in which the accused russia and china and i quote those words they are being responsible for the escalating act of killing and then went on to say the use of the veto at the security council is to use their words tantamount to the license to kill within two nettie will not russia there is a very heavy responsibility of syria now descends into the bloody unprotected symbol war? >> i think this is true. i agree with my right honorable friend and that is why i use a very strong language of my elma as well over the weekend in a statement today that these vitos ariana trail bea trail and make russia and china increasingly responsible for the situation in syria and some of the slaughter that is taking place. they must consider on the basis of their own national interest apart from anything else whether it is a simple policy to carry on in this

mr. lavrov saying what had been accomplished at the meeting.t they're saying is president assad has assured him that he supports seizing of the violence. stopping the violence wherever it comes from. and he also says the arab league should come back to start their mission again, and register any violations that they see. now the problem with this is that phrase "wherever it comes from." obviously the russians have pretty much gotten what they have said they were going get, which is they believe that what the government is doing what the opposition are doing is pretty much the same. the violence is coming from both sides. so if they got assad to say we're going to stop the violence no matter where it comes from it's unequal as you see. where this leaves it -- go ahead. >> obviously that is a problem when you have that kind of statement. it says that they're equally culpable. you see the video, that is clearly not the case. what is the united states going do? what kind of position is the obama administration in now? >> reporter: so far the obama

for some amendments according to russian funimation foreign minister sergei lavrov those amendments were not excessive and mr our law said that russia was urging the west to accommodate moscow's concerns to reach a compromise on this draft resolution china said during the meeting that it supported russia's amendments and said for the council to all of vote knowing there was a divide it did not help maintain the unity or i.v. authority of the security council if russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said that moscow art does not support using the security council as a tool to intervene on a sovereign country that is experiencing an internal conflict he believes that could create chaos in international affairs so as we see there was two toes on this resolution it did go through and it's because russia believes that as the draft resolution was presented it had a lot of imbalances in it when it comes to the current circumstance in syria russian envoy to the united nations vitaly churkin did go into detail about those imbalances and whether the security council has not yet reached its conclusion with what resolu