联合国秘书长潘基文和俄罗斯官员讨论叙利亚问题

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is in Russia, where he has said it is important not to "lose momentum" in talks on setting up a peace conference on Syria next month.

Mr. Ban is in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on Syria. Earlier Friday, he met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Russia has been pushing for inclusion of Syrian ally Iran and western ally Saudi Arabia in those talks, while accusing the United States of trying to narrow the field of participants.

Also Friday, the New York Times reported Friday that Russia has sent more advanced anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria. At the same time, Russia says it has no interest in seeing Mr. Assad remain in power.

On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they will keep pressure on Syria\'s president to step down.

Mr. Obama said at a joint White House news conference that he and Mr. Erdogan agree that President Bashar al-Assad should hand over power to a transitional body.

潘基文目前在黑海城市索契，准备和俄罗斯总统普京就叙利亚问题举行会谈。星期五早些时候，潘基文会晤了外交部长拉夫罗夫。

俄罗斯一直主张邀请叙利亚的盟友伊朗以及同西方友好的国家沙特参加和平会议，并且指责美国试图缩小参加和平会议的范围。

另一方面，纽约时报星期五报道说，俄罗斯向叙利亚提供了更多的先进反舰巡航导弹。而同时俄罗斯则表示，它并没有兴趣看到阿萨德继续掌权。

星期四，美国总统奥巴马和土耳其总理埃尔多安说，他们将继续向叙利亚总统阿萨德施加压力，迫使他下台。

奥巴马在白宫举行的联合记者会上说，他和埃尔多安都认为，阿萨德应该把权力交给一个过渡机构。