MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Russia, one of Syria's few remaining allies, urged Damascus on Wednesday to allow members of an Arab League mission to move around the country freely as they investigate whether Syria is implementing a peace plan to end months of violence.
"The mission should be able to visit any part of the country, any towns or villages, and come up with its own independent, objective opinion about what is happening and where," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference with his Egyptian counterpart.
Russia has submitted a revised United Nations draft resolution condemning the bloodshed but stopped short of blaming Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow says it supports the observer mission.
"We have consistently worked with the Syrian leadership, urging full cooperation with the observers on the provision of comfortable and free conditions for work," said Lavrov.
The group will assess whether Assad is keeping a promise to withdraw troops from cities and halt violence that threatens to spiral into civil war.
The 21-member group of Arab states has threatened sanctions if the crackdown continues — a punishment Moscow rejects warning that any arms embargo would cut off Damascus from weapons, while protesters attain weapons, helping to escalate the conflict.
Syria accounted for seven percent of Russia’s total of $10 billion in arms deliveries abroad in 2010, according to the Russian defence think tank CAST. Russia also maintains a naval maintenance base in Tartus.
After Western-backed military intervention helped topple Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi this year, Moscow has stridently opposed what it calls "external interference" in North Africa and the Middle East.
