Arms race in Syria – fingers pointed at Russia

Despite US Secretary Hillary Clinton’s accusations that Russia has been supplying attack helicopters to Syria, Russians have declined to comment on it

On Wednesday, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arm export agency claimed that the deliveries it made to Syria were in line with United Nations’ regulations but declined to specifically comment on US claims that it was sending those attack helicopters to the Syrian
regime that has been the architect of all strife in the country.

A spokesman from the agency while talking to RIA Novosti news agency said that Rosoboronexport "does not supply weapons and military technology in contradiction with UN Security Council security requirements and other international agreements." 

Syria and Russian relations go back to the Soviet era and Clinton has accused the Russians of sending shipment to its ally.

"We are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria, which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically," Clinton told a think-tank discussion in Washington.

In its defence, Russia argues that weapons that it has provided Syria like the air defence systems, cannot be used against civilians.

However, it is expected that a more detailed comment on Hillary Clinton’s claims may be released later today.

Several military experts claim that Russia’s contract with Damascus expired some 20 years ago and was never renewed.

Russia has already come under a lot of criticism from West and the Arab world after it vetoed two previous UN Security Council resolutions that would have put an end to President Bashar Al-Assad’s use of force. Though Russia has distanced itself from the
current Syrian regime, Mosocw insists that it will continue supplying weapons to Syria under terms that see them ship 1 billion $ worth of weapon every year.

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Posted by Taimoor Tariq on Jun 16 2012. Filed under Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry