Lankan Ranger
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Russia will not Halt Delivery of P-800 Yakhont Anti-Ship Missiles to Syria
Anatoly Serdyukov, the Russian foreign minister, brushed aside pleas to halt the delivery of a consignment of P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles, arguing that Moscow had supplied Syria with an older version of the missile and had not encountered problems.
"The US and Israel ask us not to supply Syria with Yakhont," he told reporters during a confidence-building visit to the Pentagon. "But we do not see the concerns expressed by them that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists.
"If that system did not fall into the hands of terrorists then why should the new one?"
Israel says the sale, which was initially agreed in 2007, threatens to alter the strategic military balance in the Levant because the missile could pose a serious threat to its naval ships in the Mediterranean Sea.
With a range of nearly 200 miles, the Yakhont is known for its accuracy and its ability to avoid detection because of its speed and low trajectory. It is also far more sophisticated that any of the anti-ship missiles presently in Syria's arsenal.
Although there is no evidence to suggest that Syria passed on the earlier version of the Yakhont to Hizbollah, Russian weaponry has ended up in the hands of the militant Shia group before.
Kornet anti-tank rockets, supplied by Russia to the Syrian defence ministry, were discovered by the Daily Telegraph in abandoned Hizbollah positions following Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon in 2006.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, urged Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, to abandon the missile sale last month. Similar appeals have been made in recent weeks by the Israeli and US defence ministers.
Russia to defy US by selling anti-ship missiles to Syria - Telegraph
Anatoly Serdyukov, the Russian foreign minister, brushed aside pleas to halt the delivery of a consignment of P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles, arguing that Moscow had supplied Syria with an older version of the missile and had not encountered problems.
"The US and Israel ask us not to supply Syria with Yakhont," he told reporters during a confidence-building visit to the Pentagon. "But we do not see the concerns expressed by them that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists.
"If that system did not fall into the hands of terrorists then why should the new one?"
Israel says the sale, which was initially agreed in 2007, threatens to alter the strategic military balance in the Levant because the missile could pose a serious threat to its naval ships in the Mediterranean Sea.
With a range of nearly 200 miles, the Yakhont is known for its accuracy and its ability to avoid detection because of its speed and low trajectory. It is also far more sophisticated that any of the anti-ship missiles presently in Syria's arsenal.
Although there is no evidence to suggest that Syria passed on the earlier version of the Yakhont to Hizbollah, Russian weaponry has ended up in the hands of the militant Shia group before.
Kornet anti-tank rockets, supplied by Russia to the Syrian defence ministry, were discovered by the Daily Telegraph in abandoned Hizbollah positions following Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon in 2006.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, urged Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, to abandon the missile sale last month. Similar appeals have been made in recent weeks by the Israeli and US defence ministers.
Russia to defy US by selling anti-ship missiles to Syria - Telegraph
