MOSCOW: Russia said Tuesday it would boycott an international meeting on Syria that will include opposition representatives, defiantly refusing to abandon its public support for President Bashar al-Assad.
The Russian foreign ministry said Friday's Friends of Syria meeting in Tunis was called "for the purpose of supporting one side against another in an internal conflict."
"We cannot accept the offer to attend this meeting," it said in a statement.
Russia has infuriated the West by refusing to single out Assad's regime over the deadly crisis in Syria and its assertion that both government forces and the opposition bore equal responsibility for the violence.
Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem said the meeting will include representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC) and other opposition groups along with Arab and Western diplomats.
But Russia is deeply suspicious of the conference's intentions after a similar coalition on Libya was used to provide air support for the opposition against former Libyan dictator and Moscow ally Moamer Qadhafi.
Russia said it feared the Friends of Syria meeting might plot tough new sanctions and arms supplies for the opposition that amounted to "a heads-on attack on Assad's regime."
"If this scenario is played out, there will inevitably be even greater bloodshed, a civil war and the possible breakup of Syria with grave regional consequences," Moscow's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin told Russian state television.
But Russia said the absence of Assad's representative in Tunis made the meeting a talking shop of like-minded parties that could make little impact on the situation on the ground.
"This means that the interests of the majority of the Syrian population, which supports the authorities, will not be represented," the foreign ministry statement said.
The West accused Russia of turning a blind eye to the human rights atrocities committed by Assad's forces after Moscow and its diplomatic ally China this month vetoed a UN resolution condemning the Assad regime.
Analysts said Russia has grown more confident about its position on Syria amid growing fears in the West that the Syrian rebel forces were being infiltrated by regional Al-Qaeda offshoots and other armed radical groups.
"Although the West is still saying the same thing, there are signs it is having doubts," said Russia in Global Affairs magazine editor Fyodor Lukyanov.
"There is more and more concern out there that Assad's ouster will lead to chaos."
Lukyanov added that some officials in Moscow believed the West was using its criticism of Russia "as an excuse" for avoiding an armed intervention that would be deeply unpopular in many Western states.
China on Tuesday refused to commit to attending the meeting and said it was studying "the function, mechanism and other aspects of the meeting."
Russia however stressed it would soon announce a grand initiative at the United Nations aimed at securing humanitarian supplies to those caught up in 11 months of violence that the opposition says has claimed more than 6,000 lives.
Moscow has emerged as the Assad government's closest ally and its support for humanitarian assistance puts pressure on Damascus to open the border to foreign supplies.
The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday had called on Assad to announce a ceasefire that could enable its team to enter Syria's most devastated regions.
Churkin said Russia intended to make "certain proposals" on providing assistance in the coming days.
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