Russia criticized the Syrian authorities on Tuesday, April 10 over their efforts on UN envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan and said Damascus needed to be more decisive to end the violence in the country.

“We think they could be taking more action and be more decisive in the way they carry out the plan,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists after a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem in Moscow.

Annan’s plan stipulates the withdrawal of Syrian government forces and heavy weaponry from towns and cities by Tuesday and the implementation of a nationwide ceasefire by April 12.

Lavrov said Muallem had told him army units had begun carrying out the plan’s requirements on “the use of weapons,” but gave no specific details on withdrawals. Muallem said Monday that the army had “begun withdrawing forces from some cities”

“The Syrian leadership has confirmed its adherence to the commitments it has undertaken and provided us with information on when it will begin implementing the plan's provisions concerning the army,” Lavrov said.

France said later that Syria’s claims to have begin implementing the plan were “an unacceptable lie” and that it would bring the issue up at a meeting of the foreign ministers of G8 member states in Washington on April 11-12.

Lavrov added that Russia would response to a UN call for member states to send observers to Syria to monitor the ceasefire, RIA Novosti reported.