The UN chief's decision to rescind the invitation to Iran to join this week's Syria peace talks was a mistake but not a catastrophe, Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday.
Sergey Lavrov said that Ban Ki-moon's decision to withdraw his last-minute offer to Iran to attend the conference set to begin Wednesday in the Swiss resort of Montreux would have a negative impact on the United Nations image.
The invitation to Iran extended by Ban on Sunday put the talks in jeopardy, with the US pushing for rescinding the offer and the Syrian opposition threatening to skip the event entirely.
"This story hasn't helped strengthen the U.N. authority," Lavrov said at a news conference, adding that recalling the offer looked "unseemly."
The controversy over Iran's participation in the talks reflected deep differences over Syria between the United States and Russia, which has been a key ally of Syria, shielding Syrian President Bashat Assad's regime from the United Nations sanctions and continuing to supply it with weapons throughout the civil war that has killed more than 130,000.
He reaffirmed Russia's stance that the presence of Iran was essential for the success of the talks.
Iran has been Assad's main regional ally, supporting his regime with advisers, money and materiel since the uprising began in 2011.
Lavrov warned that spurning Iran would deepen division lines in the Islamic world and would have a negative impact on global efforts to fight terrorism.
"The absence of Iran isn't going to help strengthen the unity of the world's Muslims," he said.
Lavrov insisted that Russia is not supplying Syria with any weapons that are "banned by international agreements and could destabilize the situation in the region."
At the same time, Lavrov voiced hope for the success of the talks that would put the government and the opposition at the same table for the first time since the start of the conflict three years ago.
"There is no catastrophe, we will push for a dialogue between the Syrian parties without any preconditions," he said.
Meanwhile, a senior member of Syria's opposition group the National Coalition, said on Tuesday it would demand the removal of "criminal" President Bashar al-Assad.
Speaking on arrival in Switzerland ahead of peace talks, Badr Jamous, secretary-general of the National Coalition and member of its negotiating team, told Reuters: "We are here to fight a diplomatic battle to achieve the objectives of the Syrian revolution and the desires of the Syrian people.
"We will not accept less than the removal of the criminal Bashar al-Assad and changing the regime and holding the murderers accountable."
Referring to images purportedly taken by a Syrian military police photographer that appeared to show the systematic torture and killing of thousands of detainees, Jamous said: "The images that we saw in the last few days indicate that this regime does not deserve less than being sent to stand trial in front of the International Criminal Court."
Peace talks plane - Athens
A Syrian government delegation heading to peace talks in Switzerland was held up for hours in Athens on Tuesday when a Greek firm refused to refuel their plane, citing an EU trade embargo.
The incident was the latest in a series of delays and diplomatic spats in the lead-up to talks due to start on Wednesday between President Bashar al-Assad's government and opposition figures to end their three-year conflict.
Syrian state television issued a terse statement saying the plane had been grounded in Greece for four hours and that the delay could cause Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem to miss his meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. It said the plane had later resumed its flight.
Vassilis Alevizopoulos, head of Greece's Civil Aviation Workers Union, said the plane was allowed to land in Athens but the fuel company refused to refuel it because of European Union sanctions against Syria. He did not give the company's name.
Syrian state television said the plane was finally allowed to refuel and continued on its way to Geneva, which Greek aviation officials confirmed.
Tuesday's incident came a day after Syrian officials accused France of trying to derail talks by denying the Syrian delegation access to French airspace to land in Switzerland.
France's Foreign Ministry denied the Syrian claims. A French diplomatic source said the delay was normal, given that the request came before the weekend and that there was never any question of refusing the request.
HRW:
A leading human rights group accused world powers Tuesday of undermining efforts to bring Syria's President Bashar Assad before the International Criminal Court.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the United States had focused too strongly on bringing the warring parties together for peace talks at the expense of putting "real pressure" on the Assad regime to end atrocities and hold those responsible for mass killings to account. The group also accused Russia and China of shielding their ally Syria from concrete action at the United Nations, such as arms embargoes.
"We cannot afford to wait for the distant prospect of a peace accord before the killing of 5,000 civilians a month comes to an end," Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, told reporters at the presentation of the group's annual report in Berlin.
"The mass atrocities being committed in Syria should be a parallel focus of the peace process," he said.
Human Rights Watch said the United States had "its own reasons" for opposing referral of Syria to the Hague-based International Criminal Court, including concerns that this could have legal implications for its ally Israel. But Washington has also been reluctant to lean on Russia for fear of jeopardizing diplomatic efforts to bring all parties together for a peace conference, which opens Wednesday in Switzerland.