May 28, 20143 (TSR) – The failure of the European Union to agree on a new arms embargo for Syria is undermining the peace process, Moscow says. But the delivery of S-300 surface-to-air missiles, an old existing contract that Russia is fulfilling with Syria, may help restrain warmongers.
The comments come from Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, referring to the results of Monday’s meeting in Brussels. After a lengthy negotiating session, EU governments failed to resolve their differences and allowed a ban on arming the Syrian opposition to expire, with France and Britain scoring an apparent victory at the expense of EU unity.
The EU’s move, which the Russian diplomat branded as an “example of double standards”, opens the door for Britain and France to supply weapons to Syrian rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Criticizing Europe’s decision to open the way for potential arms shipments to Syrian rebels, Russia insists that its own sale of arms to the Syrian government helps the international effort to end the two-year-long conflict, the diplomat added. He was referring to the delivery of the advanced S-300 long-range air defense systems, which Russia is carrying out under a contract signed with Syria several years ago.
“Those systems by definition cannot be used by militant groups on the battlefield,” Ryabkov said. “We consider this delivery a factor of stabilization. We believe that moves like this one to a great degree restrain some hotheads from escalating the conflict to the international scale, from involving external forces.”
The S-300 is a series of Russian long-range surface-to-air missile systems designed to intercept ballistic missiles, regarded as the most potent weaponry of its class. The missiles are capable of engaging aerial targets as far away as 200km, depending on the version used. The S-300 systems have been modernised repeatedly to maintain it’s reputation as the ultimate rocket and aircraft destroying machines. The S-300PMU2 Favorit can launch six missiles at once, each capable of destroying aircraft flying at several times the maximum speed of the F-16 and F-22 fighter jets – the flaunted possessions of the Israeli and US air forces, as well as intercepting ballistic targets. Simply, they are defensive systems, for aerial combat, not gear for ground warfare.
Israel’s Air Force Commander Major General Amir Eshel said last week that S-300 advanced missile defense system is en route and will soon arrive in Syria.
However, Russia has neither confirmed, nor denied “the status of those shipments.”
“The only thing I can tell is that we are not refusing from them,” Sergey Ryabkov said. “We see that this question worries our partners, but we have no reason to reconsider our position in this sphere,” he said.
Despite the uncertainty around S-300 shipments, Israel said it will know how to act if Russia does supply surface-to-air missiles.
“I can say that the shipments are not on their way yet,” Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters. “I hope they will not leave, and if, God forbid, they reach Syria, we will know what to do,” he said, without disclosing his sources.
Israel is concerned by possible Russian supplies to Syria, saying that advanced weapon systems could end up in the hands of Iran or the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Once the Russian SAM missiles are deployed by Syria, it will have a better control of its airspace. The country endured three airstrikes this year, which are widely thought to have been conducted by Israel, but were never officially confirmed as such.
Britain and France have made a commitment not to deliver arms to the Syrian opposition “at this stage,” an EU declaration said. EU officials, however, said the commitment effectively expires on August 1.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has defended the lifting of the EU’s embargo, saying that Britain would only send arms to Syrian rebels with other countries. At the same time he assured that this would not violate international law.
London and Paris have argued support for rebels fighting Assad by allowing EU arms deliveries, despite the fact that extremist elements are known to work alongside the rebels.
Other EU governments, led by Austria and Sweden, argued that sending more weapons to the region would increase violence and spread instability.
Russia’s envoy to NATO Aleksandr Grushko said that the abolition of the EU arms embargo on the Syrian opposition will only exacerbate armed conflict in that country.
“We need to refrain from taking steps that would be contrary to this logic. Such steps include armed or non-lethal support to the opposition. This just adds fuel to the fire,” Grushko said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Moscow and Washington remain undecided as to the content of a proposed international conference on Syria, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.
“There remains a gap between the positions of Russia and the US regarding some issues and aspects of this major international crisis,” he emphasized.
“And we, for our part, cannot agree to hold such events [the international conference on Syria] amid a situation where partners and possible participants in such a conference seek to impose solutions on the Syrian people from the outside, as well as predetermine the course of a transitional process, the parameters of which have not been determined yet,” Ryabkov said.
The arms embargo is really a joke in the sense that it basically makes official what has already been going on, believes Richard Becker from the ANSWER coalition.
“The arms embargo is a bit of a fiction anyways. The arms are pouring in… from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, undoubtedly organized by the United States and other powers. What they really mean is they want to send heavier weapons, because the opposition has suffered serious setbacks recently,” Becker told RT.
Despite all-around acknowledgement that steps are being taken toward a diplomatic solution in Syria by moving toward a transitional government, Becker believes the whole idea is aimed at fulfilling precisely the same ambitions as before.
“At the Friends of Syria meeting Kerry made it clear that those so-called ‘friends’ – NATO powers and Arab states – intend to increase support for the opposition until there’s a transitional government. It’s important to note what he meant by ‘transitional government’: it’s a government without the present Syrian government being represented. I think it’s clear they’re stepping it up on a number of different fronts.”
Source: TSR, RT
