Russia said on Friday that decisions made at “Friends of Syria” meeting in Rome this week, which saw the United States pledge direct aid to the armed opposition in Syria, encouraged "extremists” who want to seize power by force.

Russia said on Friday that decisions made at “Friends of Syria” meeting in Rome this week, which saw the United States pledge direct aid to the armed opposition in Syria, encouraged "extremists” who want to seize power by force.

"The decisions made in Rome as well as the statements, both in letter and spirit, give direct encouragement to extremists to take power by force, despite the unavoidable suffering of ordinary Syrians," The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"In our opinion, the urgent task today is an immediate cessation of bloodshed and any violence and a shift to political dialogue which is foreseen by the Geneva Communiqué," the statement said, referring to a transition plan agreed by world powers in June 2012.

"We are convinced that this is exactly what will allow realizing the goals that are most important for Syrians -- to secure a peaceful and democratic development of a single Syria in the interests of all its nationals, without any exception."

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with French President Francois Hollande, and both parts assured that they shared the same objectives on Syria.

Hollande said both Russia and France had the same goal to bring peace while avoiding the collapse of Syria.

“We have the same objective -- to avoid disintegration of this country and to avoid allowing terrorists to profit from this chaos. We want political dialogue," Hollande said after his first trip to Russia as president.

However, he added: "There is the question of the manner of how to get there through political dialogue."

Putin said the French president had brought with him “new proposals on how to solve the two-year conflict in the Middle Eastern country.”