Russia Says Begins S-300 Missile System Delivery to Syria
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had started delivering the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Syria and criticized Western powers for trying to undermine UN-led efforts to end the seven-year conflict.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had said on Monday the system would be delivered to Syrian forces in two weeks despite strong Israeli and US objections. A week earlier, Moscow had accused Israel of indirectly causing the downing of a Russian military jet in Syria.
"The delivery started already and as President (Vladimir) Putin said, after that incident ... the measures that we will take will be devoted to ensuring 100 percent safety and security of our men," Lavrov told a news conference at the United Nations, Reuters reported.
Russia has helped Syria recover huge amounts of lost territory in the Arab country.
The UN Security Council, which includes Russia and the United States, has mandated UN envoy Staffan de Mistura to get a deal on a new constitution, new elections and a reform of Syria's governance.
De Mistura's first task is the formation of a constitutional committee to decide whom to pick. He has said he will select about 50 people, including supporters of the government, the opposition and independents to participate.
Meeting in New York on Thursday, foreign ministers from the United States, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Britain and Saudi Arabia called on de Mistura to convene the constitutional committee and report back on progress by the end of October.
Lavrov accused the group of trying to undermine the Astana efforts and putting pressure on de Mistura so that they could impose their own resolution of the conflict, describing it as "a grave mistake."
"This is aimed at undermining all that was done at Astana process and not the fact the Syrians decide what country they are going to live in but the architecture agreed on by foreign powers," Lavrov said.