Tag Archives: Muscles

Jul 7 2012

“Friends of Syria” meeting immoral, politically wrong says Russia

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich (file photo)

The Russian Foreign Ministry has considered the so-called “Friends of Syria” meeting in Paris as being “politically wrong” and “immoral,” as these “friends” only rely on one part of the conflict in Syria.

PressTV
“Russia, China and a number of other countries which have traditionally friendly relations with the Syrian Arab Republic and its people have refused to join those ‘friends’ because we believe that the format that they have chosen is not only politically wrong, but also immoral,” Ria Novosti quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich as saying in a statement on Friday.

The statement followed a meeting held over the Syrian unrest in the French capital on Friday. Russia and China boycotted the meeting as one-sided.

Addressing the delegates, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Moscow and Beijing over their support for Syria, saying they “will pay a price” for their actions. She then urged the participants to put pressure on Russia and China to withdraw their support.

Lukashevich criticized the Paris meeting, saying the US and its allies’ “friendship” with the Syrian opposition could only aggravate the conflicts within the country.
“This would mean only one thing – the continuation of bloodshed and new human tragedies,” he said.

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Mar 13 2012

Russia says it will keep selling weapons to Syria

VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

AP for The Guardian

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Associated Press= MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has no intention of curtailing military cooperation with Syria despite calls from the West to stop arming President Bashar Assad’s regime, a senior Russian government official said Tuesday.

Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Russia will abide by existing contracts to deliver weapons to Syria despite Assad’s yearlong crackdown on the opposition, in which over 7,500 people have been killed.

“Russia enjoys good and strong military technical cooperation with Syria, and we see no reason today to reconsider it,” Antonov told reporters.

Russia has shielded Syria, its last ally in the Arab world, from U.N. sanctions over the Assad regime’s bloody suppression of an uprising against his government.

Moscow has been a steadfast ally of Syria since Soviet times, when the Middle Eastern nation was led by the current president’s father, Hafez Assad, and has long supplied Damascus with aircraft, missiles, tanks and other heavy weapons.

The Syrian port of Tartus is now the only naval base Russia has outside the former Soviet Union. A Russian navy squadron made a call there in January in what was seen by many as a show of support for Assad.

Also in January, a Russian ship allegedly carrying tons of munitions made a dash for Syria after telling officials in EU member Cyprus, where it had made an unexpected stop, that it was heading for Turkey. Turkish officials said the ship had instead charted course for Tartus.

Antonov said Russia’s supply of weapons to Syria is in line with international law and will continue. “Russian-Syrian military cooperation is perfectly legitimate,” he said.

“The only thing that worries us today is the security of our citizens,” Antonov said in a reference to Russian military personnel in Syria that are training the Syrians in the use of weapons supplied by Russia.

He declined to say how many of them are currently stationed in Syria.

“It’s part of our contractual obligations,” said Antonov, who oversees military technical cooperation with foreign countries. “When we supply weapons, we have to provide training.”

Antonov angrily dismissed allegations that Russia has sent special forces officers to assist government forces.

“There are no (Russian) special forces with rifles and grenade launchers running around,” he said.

[Editor's Note: But there are plenty of US, UK, Israeli Special Forces Operatives helping "Free Syria Army" Rebels to destabilize a Sovereign Country]