Lavrov defends Syrian weapons delivery

Russia acknowledged on Thursday that it was trying to send repaired combat helicopters to Syria and said it would continue to carry out arms contracts with President Bashar al-Assad’s government despite Western and Arab criticism. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also made clear Russia and the United States remain at odds over a solution in Syria after a meeting between Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, saying Assad’s exit cannot be a precondition for a political process. On the sidelines of an economic forum in St Petersburg, where Putin courted foreign investment, Lavrov said that the Alaed, a cargo ship that changed course this week after losing its insurance cover off Scotland, was carrying weapons to Syria. Britain’s foreign minister Williams Hague said on Tuesday that the Curacao-flagged vessel had apparently headed back toward Russia after a London-based insurer withdrew coverage when informed of allegations it was carrying weapons. Lavrov defended the abortive delivery and lashed out at the West over the incident, saying that the weapons could not be used against civilians protesting Assad’s rule and that the insurance company had no right to withdraw coverage. “The ship was carrying air defence systems, which can be used only for repelling foreign aggression and not against peaceful demonstrators, and it was carrying three repaired helicopters,” Lavrov told Ekho Mosvky radio. US officials have called Russian arms deliveries to Syria reprehensible, and a senior Arab League official was quoted as saying in Russia on Thursday that “any assistance in aiding violence should be stopped.” There is no full UN embargo of Syria, in part because Russia holds veto power as a permanent UN Security Council member. “I will repeat: We are not violating anything, and we will continue to fulfill our contractual obligations,” Lavrov said, according to Reuters. He said the helicopters, made in the Soviet era, had been repaired under a 2008 contract and shipped in dismantled form, adding that it would take at least three months to assemble them. “And so to say that the Russians were bringing helicopters that could be used against peaceful demonstrators is a rather slanted position aimed to whip up passions and cast Russia in a bad light,” Lavrov said. Syria is Moscow’s firmest foothold in the Middle East, buys weapons from Russia worth billions of dollars, and hosts the Russian navy’s only permanent warm water port outside the former Soviet Union. Russia has used its Security Council veto to dilute Western efforts to condemn Assad and secure his exit from power, arguing that it is not up to outsiders to decide the political matters of sovereign states.