Merkel hand-picked Wulff, a politician from her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), for the largely ceremonial post of head of state in 2010 after the former International Monetary Fund head Horst Koehler resigned as German president.

Her decision to consult the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens is a reversal of her position in 2010, when she insisted on Wulff – former state premier of Lower Saxony – over a more popular non-partisan candidate, Joachim Gauck.

Below is a selection of possible candidates for the new presidential election, which must happen by March 18. The head of state is voted by a special assembly of the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) and delegates for the German states.

Joachim Gauck – rights campaigner

The 72-year-old former Protestant pastor and anti-communist rights activist from East Germany should be a frontrunner, not least because he became so popular in 2010 when the opposition nominated him to run against Wulff. He ended up forcing the election to a third round.

Widely seen as having the moral authority that Wulff lacked, the Cold War shaped his life. At the age of 11 his father was arrested by communist authorities and sent to a Siberian gulag. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he ran the state-run archives on the Stasi, earning recognition for exposing the crimes of the dreaded East German secret police. More recently he has had to defend his decision to keep former Stasi employees working at the archives.

Der Spiegel magazine, along with most German media, backed Gauck as candidate in 2010 and Focus magazine this week ran a cover story entitled “The Secret President,” about his new book.

Ursula von der Leyen – labour minister

Consistently one of the most popular members of the conservative government, von der Leyen was passed over by Merkel in the search for a presidential candidate in 2010 in favour of Wulff, which reportedly soured relations between the two women.

Von der Leyen, a 53-year-old doctor and mother of seven, was born in Brussels to an aristocratic family, her father a prominent CDU politician. She became popular as family minister for pushing through more generous maternity and paternity benefits, partly to boost Germany’s birth rate.

Profiling herself as one of the few potential challengers to Merkel in the government, she drew criticism from colleagues this week for saying wage rises should be above inflation. Although a moderate, von der Leyen may be too closely linked to Merkel’s government to be acceptable to opposition parties.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier – former foreign minister

Social Democrat parliamentary floor leader Steinmeier ran against Merkel in the 2009 election and failed to galvanise his party. However, as foreign minister in Merkel’s coalition government between 2005 and 2009 he won popularity and respect. He also worked with Merkel as vice chancellor for two years.

As former SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff between 1999 and 2005, he forged a reputation as an effective behind-the-scenes fixer. A moderate within the SPD, the white-haired, bespectacled 56-year-old gained sympathy for donating a kidney to his wife and may be one of the few members of an opposition party who would be palatable to conservatives.

Wolfgang Schaeuble – finance minister

Wheelchair bound since a deranged man shot him a week after German unification, the 69-year-old conservative is one of the country’s most respected politicians, at home and abroad. Gruff and outspoken, Schaeuble is committed to European unity and has played a decisive role in the euro-zone debt crisis – meaning Merkel is likely to think twice before sending him to Bellevue Palace.

Health complications occasionally put him out of action but Schaeuble is a workhorse with a tough reputation from a previous role as interior minister. He often gets higher approval ratings than Merkel, coming first in the latest Deutschlandtrend poll with 65 percent.

Schaeuble had set his sights on becoming president back in 2004, but Merkel declined to back him over the objections of the Free Democrats (FDP). Like von der Leyen and other CDU politicians, he may be unacceptable to the opposition.

Thomas de Maiziere – defence minister

One of Merkel’s most trusted aides, De Maiziere may be too close to the chancellor for the opposition’s taste. The son of a top German army general, he has a serious demeanour and was previously Merkel’s cabinet chief and interior minister.

The 58-year-old politician was born in Bonn and hails from the chancellor’s CDU. He gets high approval ratings, coming third with 60 percent in the latest Deutschlandtrend poll.

Norbert Lammert – speaker of the Bundestag

The mild-mannered 63-year-old president of the Bundestag has a low profile compared to the other potential candidates but may be more palatable to the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD), who backed him for the speaker’s post in 2005.

Lammert, from the CDU, has not shied from speaking out against the government about potential threats to parliament’s role. He has insisted that MPs be consulted fully on the bailout schemes for the euro zone debt crisis.

(Reporting by Stephen Brown; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Merkel hand-picked Wulff, a politician from her Christian
Democratic Union (CDU), for the largely ceremonial post of head
of state in 2010 after the former International Monetary Fund
head Horst Koehler resigned as German president.

Her decision to consult the Social Democrats (SPD) and
Greens is a reversal of her position in 2010, when she insisted
on Wulff – former state premier of Lower Saxony – over a more
popular non-partisan candidate, Joachim Gauck.

Below is a selection of possible candidates for the new
presidential election, which must happen by March 18. The head
of state is voted by a special assembly of the Bundestag (lower
house of parliament) and delegates for the German states.

Joachim Gauck – rights campaigner

The 72-year-old former Protestant pastor and anti-communist
rights activist from East Germany should be a frontrunner, not
least because he became so popular in 2010 when the opposition
nominated him to run against Wulff. He ended up forcing the
election to a third round.

Widely seen as having the moral authority that Wulff lacked,
the Cold War shaped his life. At the age of 11 his father was
arrested by communist authorities and sent to a Siberian gulag.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he ran the state-run archives
on the Stasi, earning recognition for exposing the crimes of the
dreaded East German secret police. More recently he has had to
defend his decision to keep former Stasi employees working at
the archives.

Der Spiegel magazine, along with most German media, backed
Gauck as candidate in 2010 and Focus magazine this week ran a
cover story entitled “The Secret President”, about his new book.

Ursula von der Leyen – labour minister

Consistently one of the most popular members of the
conservative government, von der Leyen was passed over by Merkel
in the search for a presidential candidate in 2010 in favour of
Wulff, which reportedly soured relations between the two women.

Von der Leyen, a 53-year-old doctor and mother of seven, was
born in Brussels to an aristocratic family, her father a
prominent CDU politician. She became popular as family minister
for pushing through more generous maternity and paternity
benefits, partly to boost Germany’s birth rate.

Profiling herself as one of the few potential challengers to
Merkel in the government, she drew criticism from colleagues
this week for saying wage rises should be above inflation.
Although a moderate, von der Leyen may be too closely linked to
Merkel’s government to be acceptable to opposition parties.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier – former foreign minister

Social Democrat parliamentary floor leader Steinmeier ran
against Merkel in the 2009 election and failed to galvanise his
party. However, as foreign minister in Merkel’s coalition
government between 2005 and 2009 he won popularity and respect.
He also worked with Merkel as vice chancellor for two years.

As former SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff
between 1999 and 2005, he forged a reputation as an effective
behind-the-scenes fixer. A moderate within the SPD, the
white-haired, bespectacled 56-year-old gained sympathy for
donating a kidney to his wife and may be one of the few members
of an opposition party who would be palatable to conservatives.

Wolfgang Schaeuble – finance minister

Wheelchair bound since a deranged man shot him a week after
German unification, the 69-year-old conservative is one of the
country’s most respected politicians, at home and abroad. Gruff
and outspoken, Schaeuble is committed to European unity and has
played a decisive role in the euro-zone debt crisis – meaning
Merkel is likely to think twice before sending him to Bellevue
Palace.

Health complications occasionally put him out of action but
Schaeuble is a workhorse with a tough reputation from a previous
role as interior minister. He often gets higher approval ratings
than Merkel, coming first in the latest Deutschlandtrend poll
with 65 percent.

Schaeuble had set his sights on becoming president back in
2004, but Merkel declined to back him over the objections of the
Free Democrats (FDP). Like von der Leyen and other CDU
politicians, he may be unacceptable to the opposition.

Thomas de Maiziere – defence minister

One of Merkel’s most trusted aides, De Maiziere may be too
close to the chancellor for the opposition’s taste. The son of a
top German army general, he has a serious demeanour and was
previously Merkel’s cabinet chief and interior minister.

The 58-year-old politician was born in Bonn and hails from
the chancellor’s CDU. He gets high approval ratings, coming
third with 60 percent in the latest Deutschlandtrend poll.

Norbert Lammert – speaker of the Bundestag

The mild-mannered 63-year-old president of the Bundestag has
a low profile compared to the other potential candidates but may
be more palatable to the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD),
who backed him for the speaker’s post in 2005.

Lammert, from the CDU, has not shied from speaking out
against the government about potential threats to parliament’s
role. He has insisted that MPs be consulted fully on the bailout
schemes for the euro zone debt crisis.

While officially hailing the Greek parliament’s approval of the savings package required for a new 130 billion-euro bailout,

Berlin signaled this would not automatically mean more aid, as the feeling grew that Greece should not be saved at any cost.

With Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warning “Greek promises aren’t enough for us anymore”, and Economy Minister Philipp Roesler saying “fear of Day X (a Greek euro exit)” is fading, Germany seems to have tired of issuing threats that it would never follow through.

“Berlin threatens Greeks with end to aid,” read the front page of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, while Die Welt wrote: “Schaeuble warns Greeks: no savings, no money.”

The sight of Greek anti-austerity protesters and politicians blaming Chancellor Angela Merkel for their plight provoked anger in the patriotic pages of Germany’s best-selling daily, Bild.

Greeks and other European recipients of aid to which Germany is the biggest single contributor “should put flowers outside our embassies and send the chancellor thank-you notes.”

“Instead the demonstrators insult their German helpers and liken our government to Nazis, which is intolerable,” it said.

Officially, Merkel’s government remains committed to enabling another aid package for Greece and doing what it can to avoid the first sovereign default in the euro zone.

“The chancellor knows her place in history is tied to Greece and she won’t want to be remembered as the one responsible for a default,” said a conservative lawmaker, asking not to be named.

But the MP said the Greek parliament’s approval of the unpopular savings plan, including a 22 percent cut in the minimum wage, did not arouse much interest in Berlin “because nobody really believes any more that Greece will deliver.”

‘NOT THE END OF THE WORLD’

While Merkel’s own Christian Democrats (CDU) remain largely on message with the chancellor and European Commission on the need to keep Greece in the euro, more eurosceptic allies from the Christian Social Union (CSU) and Roesler’s Free Democrats (FDP) are taking a more aggressive line with the Greeks.

“There can be no more concessions. Now only deeds count,” said the FDP Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle while CSU leader Horst Seehofer spoke of German referendums on future bailouts – something Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert ruled out.

Hans Michelbach, an MP on the budget committee in the Bundestag (lower house) which exerts some control over the bailout payments, said Athens should not be under any illusion that its parliament’s vote meant the release of fresh aid would be automatic.

“Even the best agreements are no use without an efficient administration. Unfortunately so far we don’t get the impression that the governments in Athens have really made a serious commitment,” said Michelbach, a CSU deputy.

Schaeuble reinforced this impression by telling lawmakers last Friday that even the latest Greek savings plan would not put the country on track to cut public debt to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 – its chief condition for aid.

Such dogged insistence on strict terms for aid is one of the reasons Merkel has kept a lid on growing skepticism in Germany about how deserving Athens is of such largesse. In one recent opinion poll, two thirds of Germans surveyed said they doubted Greece’s determination to make savings.

For Erik Nielsen, global chief economist for Unicredit, an Italian bank, the chancellor’s unmatched success in preventing the rise of a major eurosceptic backlash is down to her heeding the “German public’s sensitivities to lending their tax money to a country that does not implement very many of its promises.”

But with her finance minister talking of Greek aid as “a bottomless pit” and growing incredulity about Athens meeting such conditions, Merkel must be worried about the Bundestag’s special session on the second Greek bailout due on February 27.

Merkel narrowly avoided disaster – for the euro and her own political fortunes – in September’s vote in the Bundestag on the current bailout mechanism (the European Financial Stability Mechanism). She cannot afford more lawmakers to start thinking like CDU MP Christian von Stetten, who told one paper: “A Greek exit from the euro zone would not be the end of the world.”

(Reporting by Stephen Brown; Additional reporting by Matthias Sobolewski)

The euro zone crisis appears to have swept this post-war caution aside. Two years into the debt disaster, Germany looks increasingly confident in the role of economic superpower, pushing its model of fiscal discipline on the European Union.

But matching its new-found economic dominance with bolder leadership in foreign and security policy – something partners like the United States are urging on Berlin – is another matter for a country which has shied away from geopolitical power because of its Nazi past.

Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere, one of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s most trusted aides, summed up the dilemma when he spoke at the annual Munich security conference this month.

Many allies now consider Germany has “the same rights and therefore the same obligations” as other major powers, he said, “but in Europe there are still people who worry about too much German leadership rather than too little German leadership.”

Since the euro crisis began in 2009, Germany has grown from reluctant bailout paymaster to a position of such influence that its unbending drive for austerity helped bring about the exit of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy and George Papandreou in Greece. It has also imposed a “fiscal compact” for EU budget discipline.

While other major EU economies flounder, Germany has posted growth of 3 percent or better for two straight years. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a battle to win re-election, now openly cites Germany as a model and has enlisted Merkel’s help in the campaign to bolster his own damaged credibility.

But Germany’s rise has not been without blunders, such as a heavy-handed proposal to send a “kommissar” to Greece to oversee its austerity drive, or the clumsy comment from a senior Merkel lawmaker that all Europe was now “speaking German.”

Berlin is also accused of being unwilling to pay the price of leadership by resisting calls from the International Monetary Fund and others to pay more money into euro zone bailout funds.

For some, though, it punches beneath its weight on the world stage, notably refusing to join NATO allies in air strikes against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi last year. This was a “disappointment,” said Heather Conley of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

RELUCTANT LEADERS

With a stream of foreign leaders coming for enlightenment on how the economy has defied gravity, Berlin feels like Europe’s new capital. But Merkel gets conflicting messages. She must lead the euro zone out of crisis, but in acting she may find the cartoonist’s pen too often straying toward images of the overbearing Nazi or a beckoning “Fourth Reich.”

Germany’s initial reluctance to play this domineering role, and the restraints the constitution places on the chancellor’s ability to act without consultation, bred frustration in world capitals and financial markets at the slow deliberations in Merkel’s office and the Bundestag (parliament).

As the crisis drags on, however, Germany has been encouraged to take a more uncompromisingly decisive role.

“You have got to save the euro zone and with it to save the European Union,” said British historian Timothy Garton Ash. “So in this moment the challenge does in fact come back to Germany: the buck stops here.”

But De Maiziere senses that Germany has already assumed “more international responsibility than many of our citizens would wish.” Such reluctance worries former Social Democrat foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who fears more people may start pushing for Germany to “go it alone” economically.

“German public opinion starts from the position that we were happy to keep the Deutsche Mark, be a ‘Greater Switzerland’, we didn’t want this domineering role, we’ve made lots of sacrifices and now you’re asking us to pay and pay again,” said Garton Ash.

Germans have grown skeptical of the benefits of spending taxpayers’ money on bailouts for euro zone states like Greece – or of staying in the EU at all. In a recent opinion poll, 46 percent said Germany would be better off without the EU, while 45 percent remained convinced of its advantages.

“Ironically it would be a better starting point if you had a more ambitious German public opinion which did seek a leadership role in Europe,” said the British historian.

The question of how much influence it is appropriate for Germany to assume in Europe and on the global stage has dogged post-war statesmen. Henry Kissinger put it succinctly when he said Germany was “too big for Europe, too small for the world.”

Chastened by its failed aggression in two world wars in the 20th century, Germany became a founder of the European Coal and Steel Community – precursor of the EU – and saw economic unity as the best way of avoiding further armed conflict in Europe.

German unification in 1990 reignited French, British and Russian fears that the new Federal Republic might get too big for its boots. But these appeared unfounded as Germany dedicated its wealth to the cause of European economic and monetary unity.

QUASI-HEGEMONY?

Even now, two years into the euro crisis, Merkel still goes out of her way to give the impression that the Franco-German “Merkozy” partnership is still in joint command.

“German diplomats tell you they have had to learn to ‘lead from behind’ – to get everyone else to sign onto their plans in a way that it doesn’t look like it’s coming from Germany,” said the head of one U.S. think-tank, who asked to remain anonymous.

But with France’s economy losing its AAA-credit rating, it is clear who is in the driving seat.

With Merkel elevated to what one paper called an “ueber-Kanzlerin” (super chancellor), Garton Ash said her dominance was creating “something looking increasingly like a German Europe, that is to say, not just German leadership but something like a quasi-hegemony” regarding economic policy.

He offered reassurance about Germany’s suitability for this role, calling it an exemplary democratic and free-market state. Other advocates of German leadership feel compelled to qualify their recommendation with warnings that Berlin should not overstep the mark.

“It’s not to dominate, it’s not diktat, it’s not to act alone – it’s to point the way, and here I do think only Germany can do that,” said Robert Zoellick, president of the Washington-based World Bank.

George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier, said Europe faced a diet of austerity and structural reforms “effectively for no other reason than because Germany insists on it. Germany believes that what worked for Germany in 2005 would work for Europe in 2012.”

Some countries with strong historical reasons to distrust Germany are surprisingly positive about its new role.

Israel, with whom Germany has forged a special relationship conditioned by the Holocaust, sees no question that Germany is a European and world leader, but wonders how willing it is to perform that function, said Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.

In Germany’s long-suffering neighbor Poland, the Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski encouraged Germany to consider its position in Europe as that of the “largest shareholder.”

But Sikorski warned Germany it did not have the economic or military clout to become a “benign hegemon,” if it did harbor such ambitions: “As we put it in our part of Europe, don’t get too dizzy with success.”

More immediately, many foreign policymakers who welcome the Germanisation of the EU’s fiscal habits, like Zoellick or the Italian technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti, warn that Berlin risks provoking a backlash with too narrow a fiscal focus.

Merkel, in her increasingly accepted role as leader of the euro zone, is constantly lobbied to provide a growth strategy to complement the fiscal straitjacket so that Europe can glimpse a future of employment and prosperity after the painful reforms.

“If at the end of 2012 Germany is only associated with austerity, it could become the target of ire,” said Zoellick.

GERMANY’S 2ND CHANCE

Germany would also deeply annoy allies with more displays of a lack of reliability like last year’s abstention in a U.N. vote on Libya. This showed reluctance to take on the responsibility that comes with great global economic power, said Conley.

Germany, which opted out of the Iraq war, tells its allies in private the Libyan decision was an anomaly, taken amid great political tension at home over Merkel’s nuclear power U-turn.

Berlin points to its 7,000 troops on overseas peace missions including the third biggest contingent in Afghanistan as proof – in the words of De Maiziere, son of a Bundeswehr (armed forces) chief of staff – that “the Bundeswehr can fight and lead.”

But he acknowledged that domestic support for a more prominent security role would be problematic: “Regarding the economy, most Germans do want a leadership role for the country. Regarding security policy, probably not.”

Germany’s allies understand the historical reasons for its hesitancy but do not want Europe compartmentalizing leadership with Germany specializing in the economics and France taking on security and military policy, said Conley from Washington.

The current diplomatic stand-off with Russia and China over Syria gives Berlin with an opportunity to show its influence in these strategic relationships, as does the increasing distance between the EU and Britain, which Merkel is determined to close.

“My concern is we may have some more examples where these very critical questions are going to be put on the table and Berlin is going to have to make some decisions about how it wishes to proceed,” she said. “Time will tell, but there is expectation.”

German-born U.S. historian Fritz Stern said after the fall of the Berlin Wall that Germany had won a rare second chance to become the preeminent power in Europe, after blowing its first chance in the 20th century.

“The test of whether Germany seizes its second chance comes right here and now,” said Garton Ash. “Any of us who care for Europe and the wider European community to have a role must wish Germany’s leaders have the vision and skill to face that test.”

(Writing by Stephen Brown; Additional reporting and editing by Noah Barkin)

Moscow and Beijing vetoed the resolution, which would have expressed the Security Council’s full support for an Arab League plan that would see Assad cede power to a deputy, withdraw troops from cities and make way for democracy.

The resolution – co-sponsored by several Arab states – saw the United States and Europe allied with many of Syria’s regional neighbors calling for stronger action.

“Unfortunately, yesterday in the U.N., the Cold War logic continues,” Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a security conference in Munich.

“Russia and China did not vote based on the existing realities but more a reflexive attitude against the West. The veto power should not be used from this perspective.”

The Arab League said it would continue to try to implement its plan despite the veto. The veto “does not negate that there is clear international support for the resolutions of the Arab League,” its Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said.

The failed U.N. vote came a day after activists say Assad’s forces killed more than 200 people in the sustained shelling of Homs, the bloodiest episode in 11 months of upheaval. The United Nations says that over 5,000 civilians have been killed so far.

Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja’afari ridiculed Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia that sponsored the measure, saying nations “that prevent women from attending a soccer match” had no right to lecture Syria on democracy.

Russia objected that the draft resolution was a biased and improper attempt at regime change in Syria, Moscow’s sole major Middle East ally, an important buyer of Russian arms exports and host to a Russian naval base.

Arab countries have sharply distanced themselves from Assad in recent months, voting to suspend Syria’s membership of the Arab League and to announcing sanctions unless Syria carries out the League’s peace plan.

After Friday night’s violence, Tunisia shut the Syrian embassy and said it would stop recognizing Assad’s government.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jbeli said the arguments brandished by Russia against intervention in Syria were similar to those that helped sustain Tunisia’s own President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the first leader toppled in the Arab Spring.

“If a regime is killing its people, are we allowed to talk about sovereignty as a reason or justification?” asked Jbeli.

“This is exactly what happened in Tunisia. I don’t want now to blame the West, but when the Ben Ali regime was killing people and throwing them into prison, our friends said ‘we do not want to intervene because this is an issue of sovereignty’.”

Egypt’s foreign minister emphasized the need for a solution for Syria “within an Arab context” and said Arab League foreign ministers would meet in Cairo next Saturday to discuss the Security Council vote and how to move forward.

“The bloodshed has to stop, this is a tragedy that cannot be allowed to continue in our midst,” said Mohamed Kamel Amr.

(Additional reporting by William Maclean.)

Sergei Lavrov warned of a “scandal” if the Security Council voted on the current version on Saturday as planned. He met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Munich for what one U.S. official called very “vigorous” talks on Syria.

A State Department official said afterwards that Washington still hoped for “the strongest possible consensus” at the U.N. Reports from activists that 200 people were killed in shelling by government troops in the city of Homs added a new sense of urgency to the diplomatic negotiations.

“We are not saying that this resolution is hopeless,” the Russian minister told policymakers and experts at the Munich Security Conference. However, it remained unclear whether the differences between Russia and other nations on the Security Council could be bridged.

Russia’s main objection to the draft resolution is that it sets down measures to be taken against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, but not against what Lavrov said were armed groups who were manipulating peaceful protesters.

“Unless you do it both ways, you are taking sides in a civil war,” Lavrov told the conference, saying the current draft “does not suit us at all” and warning of “a scandal” if it goes to the vote, suggesting that Russia could veto it.

The Security Council draft resolution expresses “full support” for an Arab League plan that calls for Assad to cede power.

Western and Arab nations, who have pushed for Assad to give up power after an 11-month government crackdown that the United Nations says has led to more than 5,000 deaths, are struggling to overcome Russian resistance to Security Council action.

VOTED NEEDED NOW

Earlier drafts have already been modified in response to the concerns of Russia, which has relied on Assad for a foothold in the Middle East. Russia sells weapons to Assad, who has hosted a Russian naval maintenance facility on the Mediterranean – the only Russian military base outside the former Soviet Union.

Clinton tried to impress on her Russian colleague the need for urgent Security Council action given the violence on the ground, said a senior U.S. State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The secretary made clear that we feel, that the United States feels strongly that the U.N. Security Council should vote today,” said the official, adding that the “action” now moved to the U.N. headquarters in New York.

Russian news agencies reported that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had instructed Lavrov and foreign intelligence service chief Mikhail Fradkov to travel to Syria on Tuesday to meet Assad.

The Russian minister said in Munich his government “supports the call of the Syrian people for change” but warned that the U.N. text ignored the fact that peaceful protesters were “more and more being used by armed groups to create trouble.”

The resolution made “more specific demands” of the Assad government than of such groups and condemned the former more than the latter, said Lavrov. It left the door open to outside intervention rather than ensuring a home-grown Syrian solution and appeared to predetermine the results of any action, he said.

Questioned about Russia arms sales to the Assad government, Lavrov said his country did not sell Syria the kind of small arms that could be used in internal civil conflict, and that any weapons it sold Syria could not disturb the balance of military power in the Middle East, which was tipped towards Israel.

(Additional reporting by Steve Guttermann in Moscow and William MacLean in Munich; Writing by Stephen Brown; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

The Arab League, Europe and the United States are trying to persuade Assad’s veto-wielding ally Russia to let the Security Council pass a resolution backing an Arab call for Assad to relinquish power. Moscow said passing the resolution without amendments risked “taking sides in a civil war.”

Death tolls cited by activists and opposition groups ranged from 217 to 260, making the Homs attack the deadliest so far in Assad’s crackdown on protests and one of the bloodiest episodes in the “Arab Spring” of revolts that have swept the region.

Residents said Syrian forces began shelling the Khalidiya neighbourhood at around 8 p.m. (6 p.m. British time) on Friday using artillery and mortars. They said at least 36 houses were completely destroyed with families inside.

“We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We felt shells were falling on our heads,” said Waleed, a resident of Khalidiya.

An activist in Khalidiya contacted by Reuters said residents were using primitive tools to rescue people. They feared many were buried under rubble.

“We are not getting any help, there are no ambulances or anything. We are removing the people with our own hands,” he said, adding there were only two field hospitals treating the wounded. Each one had a capacity to deal with 30 people, but he estimated the total number of wounded at 500.

“We have dug out at least 100 bodies so far, they are placed in the two mosques.”

It is not possible to verify activist or state media reports as Syria restricts independent media access.

As news of the violence spread, crowds of Syrians stormed their country’s embassies in Cairo, London and Kuwait in protest, and rallied outside Syrian missions in Germany, Greece and the United States.

It was not immediately clear what had prompted Syrian forces to launch such an intense bombardment, just as diplomats at the Security Council were discussing the draft resolution supporting the Arab League demand for Assad to give up powers.

The Security Council was due meet at 1500 GMT. Russia’s foreign minister suggested Moscow would veto the resolution if it was presented without amendments.

“If they want another scandal for themselves in the Security Council, then we probably cannot stop them,” Itar-Tass news agency quoted Sergei Lavrov as saying in an interview.

Lavrov later told a security conference in Munich: “We are not saying that this resolution is hopeless.” Russia’s main objection was that the resolution contained measures against Assad, but not against armed groups opposing him.

“Unless you do it both ways, you are taking sides in a civil war,” Lavrov said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the conference: “As a tyrant in Damascus brutalises his own people, America and Europe stand shoulder to shoulder. We are united, alongside the Arab League, in demanding an end to the bloodshed and a democratic future for Syria.”

“And we are hopeful that … the Security Council will express the will of the international community,” she said.

Russia has balked at any U.N. Security Council language that would open to door to “regime change” in Syria, a Middle East ally where Moscow operates a naval base.

HOUSES ON FIRE

Syria’s state SANA news agency denied Homs was shelled, accusing rebels of killing people and presenting them as casualties for propaganda purposes before the U.N. vote.

“The corpses displayed by some channels of incitement are martyrs, citizens kidnapped, killed and photographed by armed terrorist groups as if they are victims of the supposed shelling,” it quoted a “media source” as saying.

The Syrian government says it is facing a foreign-backed insurgency and that most victims of violence have been members of its forces.

Some Syrian activists said the violence was triggered by a wave of army defections in Homs, a stronghold of protests and of the armed insurgents Assad has vowed to crush.

“The death toll is now at least 217 people killed in Homs, 138 of them killed in the Khalidiya district,” Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters, citing witnesses.

“Syrian forces are shelling the district with mortars from several locations, some buildings are on fire. There are also buildings which got destroyed.”

Video footage on the Internet showed at least eight bodies assembled in a room, one of them with the top half of its head blown off. A voice on the video said the bombardment was continuing as the footage was filmed.

The opposition Syrian National Council said 260 civilians were killed, describing it as “one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria.”

Another group, the Local Coordination Committees, gave a death toll of more than 200.

The opposition council said that it believed Assad’s forces were preparing for similar attacks around Damascus and in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour.

“It does not seem they get it. Even if they kill 10 million of us, the people will not stop until we topple him,” said an activist reached by Reuters in Hama, another restive city.

In Cairo, a crowd stormed the Syrian embassy smashing furniture and setting fire to parts of the building in protest over the Homs bloodshed. The gate of the embassy was broken and furniture was smashed on the second floor of the building.

In London, 150 people hurled stones at the Syrian embassy, smashing windows and shouting slogans. Police said five men were arrested after breaking into the building and another held for assaulting police. Kuwait’s KUNA news agency said Syrians broke into the embassy there at dawn, tore down the flag and injured several security guards.

Demonstrations also took place at embassies in the United States, Germany and Greece.

In the cities of Hama and Idlib, activists said hundreds of people took to the streets in solidarity. They chanted in Idlib: “Homs is bombarded, and you are still sleeping?”

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut, Louis Charbonneau at the UN, Ahmed el-Shimy in Cairo, Katharine Jackson in Washington, Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Joseph Logan and Peter Graff)

The Arab League, Europe and the United States are trying to persuade Assad’s veto-wielding ally Russia to let the Security Council pass a resolution backing an Arab call for Assad to relinquish power. Moscow said passing the resolution without amendments risked “taking sides in a civil war”.

Death tolls cited by activists and opposition groups ranged from 217 to 260, making the Homs attack the deadliest so far in Assad’s crackdown on protests and one of the bloodiest episodes in the “Arab Spring” of revolts that have swept the region.

Residents said Syrian forces began shelling the Khalidiya neighborhood at around 8 p.m. (1 p.m. EST) on Friday using artillery and mortars. They said at least 36 houses were completely destroyed with families inside.

“We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We felt shells were falling on our heads,” said Waleed, a resident of Khalidiya.

An activist in Khalidiya contacted by Reuters said residents were using primitive tools to rescue people. They feared many were buried under rubble.

“We are not getting any help, there are no ambulances or anything. We are removing the people with our own hands,” he said, adding there were only two field hospitals treating the wounded. Each one had a capacity to deal with 30 people, but he estimated the total number of wounded at 500.

“We have dug out at least 100 bodies so far, they are placed in the two mosques.”

It is not possible to verify activist or state media reports as Syria restricts independent media access.

As news of the violence spread, crowds of Syrians stormed their country’s embassies in Cairo, London and Kuwait in protest, and rallied outside Syrian missions in Germany, Greece and the United States.

It was not immediately clear what had prompted Syrian forces to launch such an intense bombardment, just as diplomats at the Security Council were discussing the draft resolution supporting the Arab League demand for Assad to give up powers.

The Security Council was due meet at 1500 GMT. Russia’s foreign minister suggested Moscow would veto the resolution if it was presented without amendments.

“If they want another scandal for themselves in the Security Council, then we probably cannot stop them,” Itar-Tass news agency quoted Sergei Lavrov as saying in an interview.

Lavrov later told a security conference in Munich: “We are not saying that this resolution is hopeless.” Russia’s main objection was that the resolution contained measures against Assad, but not against armed groups opposing him.

“Unless you do it both ways, you are taking sides in a civil war,” Lavrov said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the conference: “As a tyrant in Damascus brutalizes his own people, America and Europe stand shoulder to shoulder. We are united, alongside the Arab League, in demanding an end to the bloodshed and a democratic future for Syria.”

“And we are hopeful that … the Security Council will express the will of the international community,” she said.

Russia has balked at any U.N. Security Council language that would open to door to “regime change” in Syria, a Middle East ally where Moscow operates a naval base.

HOUSES ON FIRE

Syria’s state SANA news agency denied Homs was shelled, accusing rebels of killing people and presenting them as casualties for propaganda purposes before the U.N. vote.

“The corpses displayed by some channels of incitement are martyrs, citizens kidnapped, killed and photographed by armed terrorist groups as if they are victims of the supposed shelling,” it quoted a “media source” as saying.

The Syrian government says it is facing a foreign-backed insurgency and that most victims of violence have been members of its forces.

Some Syrian activists said the violence was triggered by a wave of army defections in Homs, a stronghold of protests and of the armed insurgents Assad has vowed to crush.

“The death toll is now at least 217 people killed in Homs, 138 of them killed in the Khalidiya district,” Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters, citing witnesses.

“Syrian forces are shelling the district with mortars from several locations, some buildings are on fire. There are also buildings which got destroyed.”

Video footage on the Internet showed at least eight bodies assembled in a room, one of them with the top half of its head blown off. A voice on the video said the bombardment was continuing as the footage was filmed.

The opposition Syrian National Council said 260 civilians were killed, describing it as “one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria”.

Another group, the Local Coordination Committees, gave a death toll of more than 200.

The opposition council said that it believed Assad’s forces were preparing for similar attacks around Damascus and in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour.

“It does not seem they get it. Even if they kill 10 million of us, the people will not stop until we topple him,” said an activist reached by Reuters in Hama, another restive city.

In Cairo, a crowd stormed the Syrian embassy smashing furniture and setting fire to parts of the building in protest over the Homs bloodshed. The gate of the embassy was broken and furniture was smashed on the second floor of the building.

In London, 150 people hurled stones at the Syrian embassy, smashing windows and shouting slogans. Police said five men were arrested after breaking into the building and another held for assaulting police. Kuwait’s KUNA news agency said Syrians broke into the embassy there at dawn, tore down the flag and injured several security guards.

Demonstrations also took place at embassies in the United States, Germany and Greece.

In the cities of Hama and Idlib, activists said hundreds of people took to the streets in solidarity. They chanted in Idlib: “Homs is bombarded, and you are still sleeping?”

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Beirut, Louis Charbonneau at the UN, Ahmed el-Shimy in Cairo, Katharine Jackson in Washington, Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Joseph Logan and Peter Graff)

He warned of a “scandal” if the Security Council voted on the current version at 10 a.m. EST on Saturday as scheduled. He met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Munich Security Conference to discuss the changes Moscow wants.

“We are not saying that this resolution is hopeless,” the Russian minister told a meeting of security policymakers and experts in Germany.

Russia’s main objection to the draft resolution is that it sets down measures to be taken against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, but not against what Lavrov said were armed groups who were manipulating peaceful protesters.

“Unless you do it both ways, you are taking sides in a civil war,” Lavrov told the conference.

A few hours earlier, he was quoted by Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency as telling a television station that a vote ignoring Moscow’s objections would result in “another scandal,” suggesting Russia could veto the resolution.

The diplomatic maneuvers were made more urgent by reports from Syrian activists on Saturday that more than 200 people had been killed in shelling by government forces in the city of Homs, ahead the U.N. vote.

The Security Council draft resolution expresses “full support” for an Arab League plan that calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to cede power.

Western and Arab nations, who have pushed for Assad to give up power after an 11-month government crackdown that the United Nations says has led to more than 5,000 deaths, are struggling to overcome Russian resistance to Security Council action.

Earlier drafts have already been modified in response to the concerns of Russia, which has relied on Assad for a foothold in the Middle East. Russia sells weapons to Assad, who has hosted a Russian naval maintenance facility on the Mediterranean – the only Russian military base outside the former Soviet Union.

“We support the call of the Syrian people for change,” said Lavrov, adding that Russia had no special attachment to Assad.

But Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted resolution on Syria in October and Lavrov said the latest draft ignored the fact that the peaceful protesters were “more and more being used by armed groups to create trouble.”

The resolution made “more specific demands” of the Assad government than of such groups and condemned the former more than the latter, said Lavrov. It left the door open to outside intervention rather than ensuring a home-grown Syrian solution and appeared to predetermine the results of any action, he said.

Questioned about Russia arms sales to the Assad regime, Lavrov said his country did not sell Syria the kind of small arms that could be used in internal civil conflict, and that any weapons it sold Syria could not disturb the balance of military power in the Middle East, which was tipped towards Israel.

(Additional reporting by William MacLean in Munich)

Both leaders have played down the move. But with Socialist
Francois Hollande leading polls, Merkel’s camp worries about
losing the momentum she has built with Sarkozy in tackling
Europe’s debt crisis and the prospect of France being run by a
man whose campaign one Merkel MP termed a “leftist anachronism”.

Merkel’s backing for Sarkozy was announced by her Christian
Democrat (CDU) party after a speech by its second-in-command,
Hermann Groehe, at a meeting of Sarkozy’s UMP party in Paris on
Saturday. Groehe said Hollande’s policies would weaken Europe.

“The upcoming election in France is not just decisive for
that country, but for the successful resolution of Europe’s
common challenges,” he later told Reuters.

UMP lawmaker Olivier Carre called Merkel’s support “highly
symbolic”. “Europe will be at the heart of the campaign. It’s
also natural that after working together for three years they
stand together to defend their ideas.”

Hollande’s spokesman Manuel Valls warned the UMP not to
“hijack” the German relationship for political ends.

Merkel’s appearances before the first round of voting on
April 22 is aimed at underlining the importance of the “Merkozy”
relationship to Europe. “The French election affects everybody
in Europe,” said Elmar Brok, a CDU member close to Merkel.

UMP insiders say the push to involve Merkel came from
Sarkozy himself. The UMP’s head, and a key architect of its 2012
campaign, Jean-Francois Cope, would not be drawn into detail on
the issue in a meeting with Reuters reporters on Monday, but
noted that Merkel is “highly respected in France”.

Indeed, a Harris Interactive opinion poll conducted in
August found that respondents trusted Merkel much more than
Sarkozy to resolve the economic turmoil in the euro zone.

“Merkel is saying publicly that she prefers Sarkozy, because
she knows his capacity and of course we can only celebrate that,
it’s very satisfying for us,” a separate UMP official said.

MISGIVINGS IN BERLIN

Twelve weeks before the ballot, Sarkozy is trying to show he
is best-placed to lead France out of economic difficulty and
believes his closeness to Merkel will please conservative
voters. His strategy of not launching his re-election bid until
close to a March 16 deadline ties in with his belief that his
best chance of holding onto power is as an active president,
busy dealing with the euro zone crisis, political analysts say.

“In terms of credibility, this is a little point scored for
Sarkozy,” said Jean-Thomas Lesueur, head of the Paris-based
Institut Thomas More think-tank, regarding Merkel’s backing.

“Merkel is seen as a serious person, Germany is well-managed
and holding up in the storm. Being close to her could count.”

Sarkozy won plaudits early in his term for his response
alongside Merkel to the 2008 financial crisis. Since then he has
worked hard to further burnish his diplomatic credentials,
taking advantage of holding last year’s G20 presidency to make a
joint TV appearance with U.S. President Barack Obama.

German conservative Andreas Shockenhoff, head of a
Franco-German parliamentary group, said the CDU’s aim was to
help Sarkozy “defend Europe and the euro” against a Socialist
platform he described as “a completely anachronistic leftist
ideological programme”.

German sources say it was the UMP that wanted Merkel to show
her support, but put it in the context of concern in Berlin that
having to deal with a newcomer could slow up resolving Europe’s
debt crisis. “If Hollande wins the French election, it won’t
make things impossible, but they’ll be more difficult,” a senior
German source told Reuters.

Hollande promises to be fiscally responsible and differs
little from Sarkozy in his overall Europe policy, but he wants
to renegotiate the new treaty currently being fleshed out by
European Union leaders to add clauses on growth and welfare.

Analysts sense Berlin is concerned over a recent speech by
Hollande in which he declared war on the world of finance,
widely seen as a tactic to rally leftwingers behind him in the
first-round vote.

Hollande’s main impact on bilateral relations would be that
he wants to mark a break with a period where Berlin and Paris
led decision-making for the 17-member euro zone bloc, and return
to wider meetings where decisions have more input from European
institutions and national parliaments.

“The French must understand this election is not about
domestic political issues,” said Ulrike Guerot, senior policy
fellow in Berlin for the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“Merkel is quite right to go on the offensive in what is a
trans-national election campaign.”

Hollande’s aides insist he would bring a seamless transition
for the Franco-German machine, but Merkel has thus far declined
his invitations to meet. Conservatives concede Hollande’s
personality could be a better match for Merkel than the
hot-blooded Sarkozy, but say he could upset a fruitful
partnership.

“Hollande’s weakest point is that he is totally disconnected
from the reality of the world today,” Cope told Reuters.

“There is no other solution than to imagine a ‘G2′, Germany
and France. We are bound to do this especially now as we build a
new kind of European governance and strategy,” he said.

INTERFERENCE?

Sarkozy’s idea of involving Merkel could backfire if voters
object to her presence as foreign interference. Economic
policies promoted by Germany are not universally popular.

Jacques Reland of the Global Policy Institute said many
voters could be hostile to the idea of going down a German path
of lower wages and less social protection.

Sarkozy was accused by the left and centre last year of
ceding to pressure from Germany to give up budget sovereignty to
Brussels. The loss of France’s AAA credit rating with Standard &
Poor’s, putting it a peg below Germany, has also increase
sensitivities about perceived German dominance.

“Even if the Franco-German relationship is strong, for the
French it’s not for other countries to tell them what to do,”
said Stephane Rozes, head of political consultancy Cap.