Russia, China Stress Rejection of Military Action against Syria, Iran

Russia and China strongly oppose foreign military intervention in Syria or Iran, said a joint statement released on Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese leaders.

"Russia and China are decisively against attempts to regulate the Syrian crisis with outside military intervention, as well as imposing a policy of regime change, including within the Security Council," the statement said.

Developments in Syria "are significant for peace and stability in the Middle East and the entire world" and should be regulated through political dialogue among all participants of the conflict, it added.

The two countries also urged support for the peace plan put forward by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan.

Russia and China "are convinced of the necessity of strengthening consolidated international support of (Annan's plan), and persuading all participants of the conflict to immediately stop armed conflict".

Arab and Western pressure has been mounting for tougher international action in the 15-month Syrian conflict.

And as rebel fighters stepped up their attacks in and around Damascus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that regime change in Syria would lead the Middle East to "catastrophe".

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has voiced mounting frustration with the Chinese and Russian position, was to discuss the situation with allies in Istanbul later on Wednesday, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

Speaking in the Chinese capital, the Russian foreign minister urged the international community to resist calls from the exiled opposition to help oust President Bashar Assad's regime.

"(Opposition groups) outside Syria appeal to the world community more and more to bomb the Assad regime, to change this regime," Lavrov told reporters in the Chinese capital.

"This is very risky, I would even say it is a way that will bring the region to catastrophe."

Lavrov hit out at the rebel Free Syrian Army's announcement on Friday that it was no longer bound by a six-point peace plan brokered by Kofi Annan and endorsed by the U.N. Security Council in a resolution backed by both Beijing and Moscow.

"We do not accept the attempts to present the situation as if this resolution does not have to be followed, as was recently done by the Syrian opposition represented by the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council," he said.

Lavrov said it was important for all states that have sway over Syria's opposition groups to convince them to stop escalating the situation.

He said Beijing and Moscow would continue in lockstep over Syria, opposing foreign intervention and forced regime change, and backing Annan's peace plan.

"We confirmed that we will coordinate our actions on Syria, and that the main thing right now is to carry out Annan's plan and the (U.N.) Security Council resolution," he said.

The two nations have vetoed two Security Council resolutions critizising Assad's regime, but they voted in support of Annan's blueprint to end the conflict, in which more than 13,500 people have died since March last year, according to human rights monitors.

The plan was supposed to begin with a ceasefire from April 12 but as violence has raged on daily despite the deployment of nearly 300 unarmed U.N. observers, doubts have emerged about its effectiveness.

Turning to Iran, the Russian-Chinese joint statement said the two countries oppose any use of force or unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

"Russia and China are against using military force or the threat of force against Iran, and do not approve of directing unilateral sanctions against it," the statement said.

The two countries have called for dialogue to find a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

In the statement, they warned that continuing confrontation around Iran "can lead to negative consequences not only for the countries in the region but the entire world community."