Source : Tehran Times
Russia is continuing to supply “defensive” weapons to Syria, the head of the state arms exporter said on Wednesday.
“We are continuing to fulfill our contract obligations because Syria is not under any sanctions of the United Nations Security Council,” Anatoly Isaikin, Director of Rosoboronexport, told a press conference in Moscow, The Hindu reported.
Isaikin denied reports that Russia had supplied high precision ground-to-ground missiles Iskander to Syria or any other offensive weapons.
“We are mostly shipping air defense systems and repair equipment for various branches of the military,” he said.
Russia has recently shipped to Syria Bastion anti-ship missile system armed with supersonic Yakhont cruise missiles (forerunner of the Indo-Russian BrahMos), as well as Pantsyr- S1 and Buk-M2 air defense systems.
The official said Russia has not sent any combat planes or helicopters to Syria, but acknowledged that his company had a yet-to-be-honored contract for the supply of Yak-130 jet trainers, which can also be used as combat aircraft.
The Rosoboronexport chief said more defense deliveries are in the pipeline under existing contracts with Syria as this does not contravene international law or UN Security Council resolutions.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.
Western states have been calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. However, Russia and China are strongly opposed to the Western drive to oust Assad.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals, mostly from Egypt, Algeria, and Saudi Arabi
