"Some of our concerns and the concerns of those who think the same as us have been taken into consideration but all the same this is not enough for us to be able to support it in this form," deputy minister Gennady Gatilov said.
"We still have a whole number of concerns over the content of this text and we will be ready to continue consultations on the draft resolution," Gatilov said.
"We are ready to continue work on modifying it, taking into consideration and based on our principled positions."
He spoke after a senior U.S. State Department official said that Washington was "cautiously optimistic" about winning Russia's support for the draft.
The latest draft does not explicitly call on Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
to step down or mention an arms embargo or sanctions, though it "fully supports" an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
plan to facilitate a democratic transition.
The latest attempt at consensus emerged amid an impasse in the U.N. Security Council, with Russia leading the opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the vaporous Arab League.
The new draft "fully supports" the January 22 Arab League request that Assad transfer power to a deputy and a government of national unity within two months but does not call on him to step down, according to a copy obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse.
Instead, it calls for a "Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system ... including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States' auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States."
Like previous versions, the draft "condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from."