Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill on Saturday started a peacemaking bid to unrest-swept Syria for talks with President Bashar Assad and other leaders, officials said.

"I am deeply convinced that all the problems can be solved peacefully and through dialogue," Kirill told journalists at Damascus airport, the Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax reported.

Russia on Wednesday ruled out backing new sanctions against Iran and held urgent consultations with its ally after the publication of the most damning report to date from the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Moscow's attempt to relieve its trade partner's diplomatic isolation came a day after the IAEA agency went ahead with the publication of an unprecedented report on Iran that both China and Russia reportedly wanted to suppress.

Russia on Wednesday ruled out backing new sanctions against Iran and held urgent consultations with its Soviet-era ally following the publication of a damning report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Moscow's moves to relieve its close trade partner's growing diplomatic isolation came after the release of the United Nations' hardest-hitting report to date on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons drive.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea condemned on Tuesday the kidnapping of Syrian citizens in Lebanon, whether they oppose or support the Syrian regime.

He accused after holding talks with the Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin: “The Lebanese security authorities are complicit with the abductions and they seek to lure out the Syrian opposition members in order to deport them to Syria.”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lashed out Monday at "arrogant world powers" as he hosted his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao for a regional security summit Moscow bills as a counterpart to NATO.

Russia's likely new head of state after next year's presidential elections accused Western nations of hypocrisy for backing revolutions in North African countries that previously enjoyed their strong support.

A senior U.S. official will on Monday launch a three-country campaign to firm up sanctions against Syria and to tackle transnational organized crime, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

Assistant Secretary Daniel Glaser will travel to Beirut, Moscow and Amman for a week-long visit.

Russia warned on Monday that a possible military strike against Iran would be a "very serious mistake" that leads to further conflict and civilian casualties.

"It would be a very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a warning by Israeli President Shimon Peres that an attack was increasingly likely.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday his country would oppose a Libya-style military intervention against the Syrian regime which is battling months-long democracy protests.

"We have many questions ... after the U.N. Security Council adopted the Libyan resolution," allowing military intervention to protect civilian lives, and "after the Libyan drama," he said in Abu Dhabi, speaking in English.

Russia could take steps of "a technically military nature" if its objections to NATO's planned missile defense system are not heeded, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Serbian daily Tuesday.

"If our partners in the future continue to ignore out position we should protect our interests by other means... Concrete measures might be needed... a response of a technically military nature," Lavrov told Belgrade's Vecernje Novosti in an interview published Tuesday.

A Moscow driver smashed into 17 cars in the Russian capital Sunday on a drunken rampage while naked behind the wheel of his car, later explaining he was flying on "the wings of love", police said.

A police spokesman said the man "was in a state of insobriety behind the wheel of the car, lost control" and smashed into 13 civilian cars and four police vehicles, the RIA Novosti news agency said.