Russia Says West has 'No Appetite' for Syria Intervention

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday he believed Western powers had no desire to intervene in the Syrian conflict.

"I have a feeling that no one has any appetite for external intervention," Lavrov told journalists traveling with him on a flight to Moscow from an EU-Russia summit in Brussels, quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

"I even have the feeling that they are praying for Russia and China to continue blocking permission for external intervention. Because if there is such a decision, they will have to act, and no one is ready to act," he said.

Lavrov reiterated Russia's opposition to any intervention, citing U.N. Security Council resolutions that NATO used to justify military strikes in Libya.

"We are convinced that the U.N. Security Council must not take any more ambiguous decisions, after our partners behaved so abominably over the resolution on Libya," he said.

Russia remains one of Syrian regime's last major allies and along with China has shielded President Bashar Assad from U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing him for his use of heavy force against his armed resistance.

Moscow's position has frustrated Western attempts to end the 21 months of bloodshed by forcing Assad from power. The West has also condemned Moscow's continued military ties with Damascus, its traditional ally from the former Soviet era.