Moscow said it was ready to host talks between Syrian government and opposition parties in bid to end the 16-month-old crisis.

Moscow said it was ready to host talks between Syrian government and opposition parties in bid to end the 16-month-old crisis.

Russia will "press for inter-Syrian dialogue," Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told a council debate on the Middle East on Wednesday.
"To further this we are ready to give the opposition and the government a platform in Moscow to forge contacts to unify the opposition and for negotiations with the government," Churkin added.

Meanwhile, the Russain envoy slammed the West stance on Syria, saying that the western action "leads to a worsening escalation of the confrontation."
"The United States has spoken of its intention to circumvent the Security Council," the Russian envoy said.

"Really, there is nothing new in this. Such a policy has been followed by Washington and a number of other capitals since the beginning of the crisis in Syria and this has significantly exacerbated it."
  The western nations "will likely bear the burden of responsibility for the likely catastrophic consequences of such acts," Churkin said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia said that the US was justifying terror in Syria, accusing the West of spurring further bloodshed in the crisis-hit country.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that Washington failure to condemn the July 18 blast that killed top security officials meant it was justifying terror.