Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the US policy on Syria, saying such policy encourages the extremists to fund terrorism in the crisis-hit country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the US policy on Syria, saying such policy encourages the extremists to fund terrorism in the crisis-hit country.

US policy "encourages extremists who are financing terrorism and supplying terrorist organisations and groups with weapons," at a joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minster Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad.

"In the end, this will not result in anything except the escalation of the Syrian conflict," he said in remarks translated from Russian into Arabic.

Meanwhile, on the Ukranian issue, Lavrov accused Ukrainian "extremists and hardliners" of seeking to spark a civil war.

Moscow supports negotiations between Ukranian authorities and the opposition, so they can try to overcome "this crisis and together fight extremists and hardliners who are trying to provoke a civil war," Lavrov said at the news conference.

Ukranian protesters stormed on Thursday police barricades in Kiev after a truce broke down.