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Rebels in Syria are partly responsible for the massacre of more than 100 people in the town of Houla, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says.
Mr Lavrov said some victims had been killed at close range in a district controlled by rebels.
The UN condemned the killings, saying government artillery was involved. Russia is a close ally of Syria.
UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is in Damascus for talks on implementing his shaky six-point peace plan.
At a joint news conference with UK counterpart William Hague in Moscow, Mr Lavrov said that Russia was "deeply alarmed" by the massacre in Houla.
"We are dealing with a situation in which both sides evidently had a hand in the deaths of innocent people," he said.
Russia is the key external actor in this drama. It maintains close political, military and economic ties with the Syrian regime.
With Washington increasingly talking about a Yemen-style transition in the country, Moscow's voice and inside knowledge could be even more important.
The problem is that the UN and the wider international community have no alternative: no "Plan B".
There is absolutely no appetite for military intervention at this stage.
President Assad is effectively being asked to step aside and this he is not prepared to do. As the bloodshed and frustration continue the likelihood is that the country may descend further into a brutal civil war.
And there is every sign that those countries in the Gulf which see the only option as arming the Syrian opposition are already re-doubling their efforts.
"There is no doubt that the government used artillery and tanks and this has been reported by UN observers who have visited the scene," he said.
"There is also no doubt that many bodies have been found with injuries from firearms received at point-blank range. So the blame must be determined objectively. Nobody is exonerating the government or the rebels but we must understand how it happened so that it can never be repeated."
Asked if President Bashar al-Assad could be part of the solution in Syria, he said that ending the violence was more important than who was in power.
He added: "We do not support the Syrian government. We support the plan of Kofi Annan."
The Syrian government insists the killings were carried out by "terrorists".
Analysts earlier expressed surprise at Russia's support for the UN Security Council condemnation of the Houla killings. Moscow has so far been reluctant to apportion any blame for deaths in Syria to the Assad regime.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus said Mr Lavrov seemed to up the stakes when he noted that, for Moscow, it was not important who exactly was in power in Syria.
Mr Hague renewed Britain's call for President Assad to comply with Kofi Annan's peace plan.
"The alternatives are the Annan plan or ever increasing chaos and a descent closer and closer to all-out civil war and collapse," he said.
Forty-nine children and 34 women were among Friday's dead, the UN has confirmed.
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On Monday, China also condemned the "cruel killings".
The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon say there is no sign that the Syrian government's behaviour on the ground has changed as a result of the Houla massacre.
Fighting in Syria has continued despite the deployment of some 280 UN observers monitoring the ceasefire brokered by Mr Annan.
Opposition activists said at least 30 people were killed on Sunday when the army shelled the central city of Hama. The reports cannot be independently verified.
On Sunday the Security Council unanimously adopted the non-binding statement calling for the Syrian government to withdraw its heavy weaponry from residential areas and return them to barracks.
"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest possible terms the killings... in the village of (Houla), near Homs, in attacks that involved a series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighbourhood," the statement said.
"The members of the Security Council also condemned the killing of civilians by shooting at close range and by severe physical abuse," the statement continued.
1. Syrian-led political process to address the aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people
2. UN-supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties to protect civilians
3. All parties to ensure provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting, and implement a daily two-hour humanitarian pause
4. Authorities to intensify the pace and scale of release of arbitrarily detained persons
5. Authorities to ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists
6. Authorities to respect freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully
"Such outrageous use of force against civilian population constitutes a violation of applicable international law."
Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, accused some members of the council of trying to mislead the world.
"Neither [UN observer mission head Maj Gen Robert] Mood nor anybody else told the Security Council in the informal session that he would blame the Syrian government forces for what happened.
"It is really pitiful and regrettable that some members of the council came out just a few minutes after Gen Mood had finished his briefing to mislead you, to tell you lies about what happened," he said.
Gen Mood told the BBC that UN monitors were continuing their investigations in Houla.
Mr Annan arrived in Damascus on Monday and will hold talks with President Assad on Tuesday.
Under Mr Annan's plan, both sides were to stop fighting on 12 April ahead of the deployment of monitors, while the government was to withdraw tanks and forces from civilian areas.
The unrest in Syria has killed at least 10,000 people since protests against President Assad broke out in March 2011.
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