Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in an interview published on Monday ahead of a visit to Moscow, denied that there was any deal to buy sophisticated missile systems from Russia. Rumours of the Iskander-E ground-to-ground and SA-18 shoulder-fired missiles deal have rung alarm bells in Israel, Syria's arch-enemy, and in the United States.
"Russia's defence minister has said that such a deal does not exist and thus he has answered the question," Assad told Izvestia in the interview ahead of his arrival in Moscow for the three-day visit.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov earlier this month denied reports that Moscow was in talks with Damascus to sell it sophisticated arms after the United States raised the issue with him during a US visit.
Israel has also urged Russia not to sell Syria weapons, which would bring most of its territory within missile range.
Damascus was Moscow's key Middle East ally during the Cold War.
Russia has been trying to revive the influence it held in the region before the collapse of the Soviet Union, with Syria seen playing a key role.
"Playing on Syrian fears of a US invasion, Moscow is counting on the Soviet-style tactic of making Damascus dependent on its military equipment," Kommersant daily newspaper said, referring to US threats against Syria for failing to prevent anti-American militants from entering Iraq through its border.
Kommersant said that another tactic would be to write off Soviet-era debts.
It quoted unnamed sources as saying that Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and his Syrian counterpart Mohammad al-Hussein had agreed at talks in Moscow earlier this month to forgive nearly $10 billion of the $13.4 billion Syrian debts. Officials were not immediately available for comments.
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