Russia has rebuffed calls by the US to increase pressure on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Secretayr of State Hillary Clinton urged Russia to support the UN in taking action to end the conflict, saying that Congress may abolish trade restrictions still in place since the Cold War.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists that the Kremlin is against sanctions against Syria and Iran, after talks with Clinton on Saturday.
"Our American partners have a prevailing tendency to threaten and increase pressure, adopt ever more sanctions against Syria and against Iran," Lavrov said, according to AFP.
"Russia is fundamentally against this, since for resolving problems you have to engage the countries you are having issues with and not isolate them.
"Unilateral U.S. sanctions against Syria and Iran increasingly take on an extraterritorial character, directly affecting the interests of Russian business, in particular banks.
"We clearly stated that this was unacceptable, and they listened to us. What the result will be, I don't know."
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