Syria denies reports of offering to lodge Russian missiles
Washington, 22 August (IranVNC)—Syria denied today reports carried yesterday by Russian media that it had offered to place the advanced Iskandar missile system in its territory, one day after President Bashar al-Assad met his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, for talks on upgrading Syria’s military.
By: IranVNC
Published: Friday, August 22, 2008
11:00GMT—7:00AM/EST
SYRIA – RUSSIA – SECURITY – MISSILES
Washington, 22 August (IranVNC)—Syria denied today reports carried yesterday by Russian media that it had offered to place the advanced Iskandar missile system in its territory, one day after President Bashar al-Assad met his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, for talks on upgrading Syria’s military.
According to Reuters, Syria’s state news agency [SANA] said the hosting of Iskandar missiles, which Russia says can resist any missile defense, was not on the agenda of talks between the two leaders at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Russian media reported that al-Assad had offered to place the missiles, which are capable of reaching Israel, after Poland signed a deal with the U.S. on Wednesday to host an anti-missile system on Polish soil, reports Israel’s YNet News.
But Russia’s acting ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Yurkov, told the Jerusalem Post yesterday that Moscow had no intention of placing the missiles in Syria.
“Why would we do that?” Yurkov said, adding that Russia would not upset the strategic balance in the region.
The Jerusalem Post also reports Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying yesterday that any “defensive weapons” it sells to Syria would “not in any way interfere with the strategic balance in the region.”
Israel said yesterday that it opposes Russian sale of long-range missiles to Syria, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “made this abundantly clear” during his phone conversation with Medvedev on Wednesday, an Israeli official told YNet News.
Olmert is expected to travel to Moscow at the beginning of September to convince Medvedev to refrain from selling modern weapons to Syria, the report adds.
Olmert also told Medvedev on Wednesday that Syria should focus on the peace talks with Israel rather than the purchase of weapons which Israel “would eventually be forced to destroy,” YNet News reports.
Syria and Israel have held four rounds of indirect peace negotiations through Turkish mediation since May of this year and Olmert’s office confirmed yesterday that the talks were ongoing, the Jerusalem Post reports.
However, diplomatic sources told the Dubai-based al-Bayan Newspaper today that the U.S. wants Israel and Turkey to halt talks with Syria after reports that Damascus had offered to host the Russian missiles, reports YNet News.
Meanwhile, Medvedev and al-Assad told reporters at a press conference yesterday that they both supported a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute and Tehran’s right to a peaceful nuclear energy program, the semi-official ISNA news agency reports.
Russia is one of the six major powers negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program, which Western powers fear will be used to develop a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told reporters yesterday that she did not believe the new tension between Russia and the West following the conflict in Georgia would affect efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
“There is an understanding between international leaders that the world cannot afford an Iran with nuclear weapons,” the Jerusalem Post quotes Livni as saying.
Sources: Jerusalem Post, YNet News, Reuters, ISNA in Persian
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