Moscow and Beijing will be punished for supporting the regime of President Bashar Assad in Syria, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton harshly stated at the "Friends of Syria" meeting of over 100 Western and Arab nations in Paris on Friday.
"I do not believe that Russia and China are paying any price at all - nothing at all - for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime. The only way that will change is if every nation represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and China will pay a price," Clinton warned.
Russia and China once again opted not to attend the "Friends of Syria" meeting. Neither Moscow nor Beijing believe the meeting in the French capital will be helpful in uniting the Syrian opposition "on a constructive basis".
"We have frankly laid out the reasons why we have restrained from joining the mechanism, the very name of which has a contradiction between the word and the deed," Russia`s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this week.
French President Francois Hollande demanded Bashar Assad step while delivering an opening statement at the Friends of Syria meeting on Friday. Hollande believes a transition of political power is the only way to end the 16-month conflict in Syria.
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