Russia’s weapons supplies to Syria are fully in compliance with the law and do not give the government troops any advantage over the rebels, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said commenting on the hype in Western media.
“I don’t understand why mass media are trying to make a
sensation out of the fact. We do not conceal it that we supply
weapons to Syria according to signed contracts, violating neither
any international agreements, nor our own weapon export control
legislation, one of the strictest in the world,” Lavrov said at
a press conference on Friday.
He stressed all of the weapons supplied are in fact air defense
systems, and thus cannot impact the existing power balance between
the Assad forces and the rebels.
Lavrov’s remark comes in response to the recent uproar in the
media, concerning Russia’s allegedly sending Yakhont anti-ship
cruise missiles to Syria and earlier reports on supplies of S-300
anti-missile systems, which are capable of intercepting ballistic
targets.
Russia has underlined on numerous occasions any supplies to Syria
are according to old contracts, many of which are Soviet-era, the
supplied weapons are missile-defense ones and after completing
these contracts no new deals are planned.
The Russian FM commented on Russia’s weapons supplies at a
press-conference following his talks with the UN chief. The Syrian
crisis dominated the agenda of the meeting, which is part of a
recent flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the violence in the
country, preceded by Vladimir Putin holding similar talks with
worlds’ top officials, including the US secretary of state and the
British and Israeli leaders.
Eventually, a joint initiative was authored by Moscow and
Washington to hold peace conference on Syria, planned for June.
Before the conference happens though, both the US and Russia have
several stumbling blocks to overcome, such as divisions inside the
Syrian opposition, making it unclear who exactly can represent it
at the conference, and harsh preconditions set by the rebels.
“In contrast to the Syrian government, which has responded quite
positively to the Russian-American initiative, the opposition’s
answer was quite vague. They said that they welcome any initiatives
that will help to stop the violence, but before that Assad must go
– reiterating their stance, which has been the cause of the
deadlock for many months,” said Lavrov on Thursday in an
interview to Al Mayadeen.
As for the US it is expected to object to Iran’s participation, on
which Moscow insists.
Another thing is that when Western leaders are talking to Russia
they seem to be on the same page with Moscow’s position, agreeing
on the need for negotiating peace, but as soon as they leave, they
are once again calling for Assad to step down and promise
increasing support to the rebels.
The UK and France have become increasingly vocal in their calls
to supply the insurgent groups with arms. British and French
efforts at lifting the EU embargo on Syria are however strongly
opposed by Austria, showing a divide on the issue in Europe.
What could be a mind changer for them though is a recent series
of reports on atrocities performed by the rebels. The freshest
example is a shocking video of three men from government troops
being publicly executed by rebels in a square in the northern city
of Raqqa. The killings have been confirmed by the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights.
Earlier, another YouTube video was posted showing fighters of
the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front in Syria executing 11 government
soldiers. Still earlier this week another shocking video was
released featuring a Syrian rebel eating a lung of a slain government soldier in
what the insurgent described as an act of revenge.
Growing evidence of atrocities committed by rebel groups,
however did not prevent the UN from voting for a resolution
condemning Assad and praising the opposition. Russia voted against
the document, describing it as one-sided.
Russia still urges all of the sides to resolve the crisis by
negotiations, something Lavrov reiterated on Friday, saying a peace
conference should be held “the sooner the better.”
He was echoed by Ban Ki-moon’s call to “not lose the
momentum.”
This article originally appeared on : RT