Statements about a possible military intervention in Syria stem from ‘political emotion,’ and not rationally analysis, the Russian Foreign Ministry's first deputy head Andrei Denisov said on Wednesday.
"The question of internal interference - this is a reflection of political emotion, rather than analysis and a calculated approach. The question that always arises in such situations is - what next?” Denisov said, when asked by journalists about French President Francois Hollande’s comments that military force in Syria could not be ruled out.
Hollande said a television interview on Tuesday that "a military intervention [in Syria] is not to be ruled out under condition that it is led in the respect of international law, that is to say after a deliberation of the [U.N.] Security Council,” and adding "It is not possible to allow [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad's regime to massacre its own people."
Denisov said "the Russian position is not formed on the basis of emotions, which our respected French partners have unfortunately not escaped in the formulation of their position.”
On Tuesday, several Western countries, including the United States, France, Britain and Germany, said they were expelling Syrian envoys in an apparently coordinated response to last week’s massacre of more than 100 civilians, including children and women, in the Syrian township of Houla.
The UN Security Council on Sunday condemned the massacre, which took place shortly before Monday's visit to Syria by the joint UN-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, who is trying to rescue his faltering peace plan to end 15 months of bloodshed in Syria.
U.S. White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday military intervention in Syria “is always an option” but at this time it is not the right course as it “would lead to greater chaos, greater carnage.”
In all, over 10,000 people have been killed in clashes between the government and opposition forces in Syria since the start of the anti-Assad uprising, according to UN estimates.
