Syria touts support from Russia

DAMASCUS, Syria, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Russian authorities are able to recognize the reality of the situation in Syria more than other countries, officials reportedly told Syrian state television.

Moscow and China this week vetoed a resolution at the U.N. Security Council dealing with the ongoing unrest in Syria. Both countries said dialogue between factions inside Syria was the best course of action.

Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia's lower parliamentary assembly, said authorities in Syria were ready to carry out democratic reform. Two other Russian officials told Syrian TV that Moscow's veto was a stance against the principles of justice, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reports.

Russian news agency ITAR-Tass quoted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, however, as saying Syrian President Bashar Assad needed to take reform pledges seriously.

"If the Syrian leadership is unable to undertake these reforms, it will have to go," he was quoted as saying. "But this is something that has to be decided not by NATO or individual European countries but by the people and leadership of Syria."

The United Nations, in a report on Syria published Thursday, put the death toll in Syria at more than 2,900 since the uprising began in mid-March. Human rights officials said there were a growing number of reports of widespread torture of detainees, including children, in Syria.