Gulf Ministers to Discuss Syria with Russia

Gulf foreign ministers will meet their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the Saudi capital next week to discuss developments in Syria, Kuwait's foreign minister said on Thursday.

"A meeting will be held with the Russian foreign minister and the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council on March 7 in Riyadh," Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah told Kuwaiti MPs.

He said the ministers from the six-nation bloc will "express their disappointment with the Russian stance," on the crisis in Syria.

Moscow along with Beijing has twice wielded its Security Council veto to block U.N. action on the crisis in Syria, first in October last year and again in February.

Sheikh Sabah spoke at an emergency session of the newly elected Kuwaiti parliament called to discuss the escalating crackdown by President Bashar Assad's regime on anti-government protesters demanding his ouster.

He said that Gulf nations will "call on Russia to take a position that will meet the aspirations of the Syrian people."

The announcement came just three days after Qatar's prime minister said he was in favor of delivering arms to the Syrian opposition that is battling Assad's regime.

"We should do whatever necessary to help them, including giving them weapons to defend themselves," Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said on a visit to Norway.

"This uprising in Syria now (has lasted) one year. For 10 months, it was peaceful: nobody was carrying weapons, nobody was doing anything. And Bashar continued killing them," Sheikh Hamad told a news conference.

Also this week, Saudi Arabia accused some countries of being complacent on Syria and blocking a solution to the deadly violence.

"The kingdom holds all parties that delay international action (on Syria) morally responsible for developments there, especially if they continue to be complacent and ignore the interests of the Syrian people," a government statement said.

Last month, King Abdullah scolded Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for vetoing the latest Security Council resolution on Syria.

In a telephone call with the Russian leader on February 22, the king said Russia should have "coordinated with the Arabs... before the veto... but now, dialogue about what is happening (in Syria) is futile."

Saudi Arabia has taken a strong stance against Assad's regime and, like the other five GCC member states, expelled the Syrian ambassador last month and recalled its own ambassador from Damascus to protest the "mass slaughter" of civilians.

The king has previously called for "critical measures" to be taken on Syria, warning of an impending "humanitarian disaster".

As well as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the GCC includes Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that well over 7,500 people have been killed in the Syrian regime's crackdown on nationwide protests since March last year.