Syria's Assad in Russia amid missile sales storm
AFP
Date: 01-22-05
MOSCOW (AFP) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrives in Moscow on Monday amid a storm of controversy over reports that Russia was ready to sell next-generation missiles to Israel's arch foe that could destroy any target in the Jewish state.
Russia has been eager to stamp out the rumors by arguing that it had long traded arms with Syria -- its most important ally in the Middle East -- but had no intention of selling the Iskander-E weapon that penetrates existing Western defense systems.
"Our cooperation with Syria is broad and multifaceted and includes military cooperation," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday. "But it never went outside the framework of international agreements."
He added: "This will be a very important visit for us."
The Iskander scandal is particularly humiliating for Russia because it came during Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov's visit to Washington last week in which the two sides neared an agreement on new controls over sales of portable missiles to "rogue states".
Instead Ivanov left Washington smarting from a US rebuke over the Iskander reports that prompted an emergency government session in Israel.
Whether Russia intended to sell the missile is unclear but analysts agree now the deal is unlikely to go through. The talks -- if ever held -- where conducted by the weapon's producer and not the government itself and the factory has been evasive.
But the episode highlights the importance Russia still attaches to a country viewed as a mortal enemy by an Israeli government that has warmed up to President Vladimir Putin in recent years.
"Syria is the only country abroad where we still have a naval base," said Oleg Barabanov of the Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations.
"This is the only Arab country through which we can influence events in the Middle East because all the others listen more to the United States or even France."
But Barabanov added: "I doubt that this visit will mark a major breakthrough."
Syria also denied Assad was in Moscow to buy arms. His visit was preceded by one from his vice president last year who also left the country empty-handed.
Analysts say Moscow is most concerned about keeping its communication lines in the region open and Syria -- while also purchasing smaller arms -- presents the best viable option.
And one of the levers Moscow has over Damascus is a 12 billion-dollar Soviet-era debt. Russia also helped build and still services the country's oil pipeline system.
"Russia is returning to its Soviet-era paradigm in both foreign and military cooperation policies," said Yevgeny Volk, Moscow office director of the conservative US-based Heritage Foundation institute.
"Part of the problem is that Moscow does not have many other clients," Volk said.
Some analysts said that Russia fears Syria is slowing warming up to the United States and that its main Middle Eastern contact will be lost down the line.
Russian President Vladimir "Putin's goal is not to lose Syria now that it is no longer on the US black list and possibly looking toward closer relations with Washington," Barabanov said.
But Moscow appears almost embarrassed by this courtship of a hard-line Middle Eastern state.
The visit was first announced by Israel and not Russia. So was the potential sale of the Iskander missile that later leaked through to a Moscow business daily.
The Russian foreign ministry confirmed Assad's visit only a few days later and has said little about the agenda since.
Analysts are convinced that the missile's maker had indeed planned to quietly sell the Iskander but that now the Russian government itself will put an end to the deal.
"This weapon is too precise and too high tech for us to sell to them," said Konstantin Makiyenko of the Center for Analysis of Strategy and Technology.
"What is possible is that we may sell them some air defense systems -- but even that will create a lot of noise both in Israel and the United States."
Source
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
|