US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Russia’s refusal to support constructive action by the U.N. Security Council on the crisis in Syria is keeping its President Bashar al-Assad in power

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Russia’s refusal to support constructive action by the U.N. Security Council on the crisis in Syria is keeping its President Bashar al-Assad in power.

Clinton said she would tell Russia that the risk of civil war was rising in Syria, adding that she expected "rough" diplomacy ahead. She said she would raise the Syria crisis when she meets Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in talks among foreign ministers of the Group of Eight major economies starting in Washington on Wednesday.

She said Russia’s refusal to join in U.N. action “is keeping Assad in power, well-armed, able to ignore the demands of his own people, the region and the world.” "We will have another go at trying to persuade the Russians that the situation is deteriorating and the likelihood of regional conflict and civil war is increasing," she said at the US Naval Academy in response to a question.
  
"So I think there will be a very rough couple of days in trying to determine whether we go to the Security Council seeking action, knowing that Russia is still not on board, but continuing to require them to have to either veto or abstain," she said according to AFP.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in Moscow on Tuesday that his government has been withdrawing forces in line with a plan negotiated by former UN chief Kofi Annan, but Western countries still ignore any Syrian good wills and deeds.

Concerning North Korea's proposed long-range rocket launch, Clinton warned in a wide-ranging speech on U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific region that history points to "additional provocations" from North Korea, suggesting Pyongyang feared closer relations with the outside world. "This launch will give credence to the view that North Korean leaders see improved relations with the outside world as a threat to their system. And recent history strongly suggests that additional provocations may follow,"

Clinton also called on China to embrace and participate more in regional security efforts and to address the problem of cyber theft of intellectual property.