Скачать или смотреть CHANCELLOR MERKEL AND PRESIDENT PUTIN COMMENT ON SYRIA

(1 Jun 2012) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow wants to help U.N. envoy Kofi Annan achieve "positive results" and prevent an all-out civil war in Syria.
Putin's comments came after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
Putin rejected assertions, that Moscow is propping up Assad's regime and insisted it doesn't support any party in the country's conflict.
"We don't support any of the parties that are creating threats of a civil war," he told assembled media.
"The Chancellor and I agreed that Russia, Germany and all our partners must focus our efforts in order to prevent an escalation of violence and help Mr. Annan to achieve positive results."
Putin said he believed a political solution is possible but patience is needed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also pressed Vladimir Putin to allow "democratic diversity" to develop in Russia as he made his first trip abroad since returning to the Presidency.
Observers' reports of widespread fraud to boost results for the Kremlin's United Russia party in December's parliamentary election set off mass street protests that were unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia.
The protests have evolved into regular rallies and, in Moscow, continuous Occupy-style demonstrations decrying Putin's subsequent election to a third Presidential term.
Putin has toughened his stance against the opposition since winning a third term in March's election, rejecting a dialogue with its leaders and stonewalling their demands.
Merkel said after meeting Putin that they had discussed "the development of civil society" in Russia.
"My experience is it (democratic diversity) is only that way that a truly robust civil society can arise which supports the development of the country," Merkel said at the conference.
Putin, who was standing alongside her, did not respond.
Putin's trip, which started in Belarus, will to take him to France after his stop in Berlin on Friday.
His visit to the 17-nation eurozone's two biggest economies reflects a policy course driven primarily by Russia's economic interests.
Merkel said Germany wants to help Russia modernise its industry and pointed to the two countries' close cooperation on raw materials exemplified by a new undersea pipeline that transports natural gas directly from Russia to Germany.

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