The UN Security Council has met to consider a draft resolution against Syria’s government.
The British Broadcasting Corporation BBC? reported that Activists and the Arab League urged the UN to take stronger action after a surge in violence this week in which dozens of people have died.
The UK, France and Germany drafted a resolution with Arab states, supporting the League’s call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand power over to a deputy.
Russia, an ally of Mr Assad, has said it will not back the text.
Russia’s UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin told reporters after the meeting in New York that the draft resolution was unacceptable, but Moscow was ready to engage in further talks.
He said Russia had set out its “red lines” and that the resolution should not contain any threat of sanctions or an arms embargo.
The draft “not only ignored our red lines but also added some new elements which we find unacceptable as a matter of principle,” AFP news agency reported him as saying.
“The Security Council cannot go about imposing solutions in crisis situations in various countries of the world.”
The BBC’s UN correspondent, Barbara Plett, says Russia will not support any measure that could mean regime change.
Moscow was also concerned about a warning of further measures if Syria does not comply with the resolution, fearing that this could open the door to outside intervention,