Russia has said a resolution on Syria passed by the UN General Assembly undermines peace efforts there, as fighting continues on the groun, BBC News reported.


Moscow's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters the resolution was one-sided and supported the armed opposition.


Western nations praised the resolution, which passed by 133 votes to 12 with 31 abstentions.


It criticises both the UN's own Security Council and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.


The assembly debated the resolution, which was proposed by Saudi Arabia, shortly after the resignation of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and the failure of his six-point peace plan.


In Syria, government forces backed by tanks launched a new assault in Damascus while shelling continued in the country's largest city, Aleppo.


Activists say more than 20,000 people - mostly civilians - have died in 17 months of unrest.


Russia voted "no" on Friday along with China, Syria, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Burma, Zimbabwe and


Venezuela. Among those states abstaining were India and Pakistan.


Churkin told the UN that the Saudi-drafted resolution concealed "blatant support for the armed opposition".


He said his country regretted the resolution which "only aggravates confrontational approaches to the resolution of the Syrian crisis, doing nothing to facilitate dialogue between the parties".


It was "written as if no armed opposition existed at all", he added.


Mr Churkin pointed out that the resolution called on the UN envoy to work towards a transition to democracy in Syria, yet the envoy's task had been to arrange dialogue, not regime change.