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Syrian President in Moscow
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is on a working visit to Moscow, will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin today. Those talks have great importance for both Moscow and Damascus, since Damascus needs Russian support on the issue of setting up a UN tribunal on the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and Moscow needs Syria to help in its effort to increase its role in the Middle East.
Al-Assad arrived last night at Putin's invitation and will be in Moscow for three days. The situation in the Middle East will be the main topic of the leaders' talks today. Moscow will emphasize the need to revitalize the peace process in the region. For that to occur, the conditions must be created for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to resume, as well as Israeli-Syrian negotiations.
The possible UN tribunal on the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri in February 2005 will be another important topic of today's talks. That tribunal could be the source of large-scale problems for Syria. The Russian embassy in Damascus explained that Russia “does not support efforts to use the UN tribunal as an instrument of political pressure on Syria.” The murder of Hariri led to the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon and the withdrawal of the large contingent of Syrian troops from that country. Last month, current Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora expressed his support for the creation of an international tribunal to investigate Hariri's death, after which six ministers from the Shia opposition resigned in protest. Hezbollah also mount a massive protest. The Lebanese government holds that the vast majority of the protesters were members of groups set up by Syrian intelligence.
Al-Assad's visit comes just days after Siniora visited Moscow. Al-Assad met with ambassadors from the League of Arab Nations before leaving for Moscow and told then that “Syria is in favor of reaching a compromise between the Siniora cabinet and the opposition and of stability in Lebanon.” Observers think that the talks with Putin may be aimed toward an agreement on a trade – that Lebanon give up all accusations against Damascus and Syria will stop working to overthrow the Siniora government. If that arrangement is successful, Moscow will be able to claim world status for itself as the country that solved the Lebanese crisis. Moscow is counting on Syrian support for a Russian initiative to hold a conference in Moscow with representatives of Lebanon and Syria, and maybe Iran the Palestinian Autonomy and Israel, in attendance.
Military relations, an eternal topic in talks between the two countries, will also be discussed by the presidents. Syria is a likely purchaser of the MiG-29SMT fighter jet. Russia wants to expand its presence at the Syrian port of Tartus to create a naval base by 2009. Damascus may acquire Amur 1650 submarines, Yak-103 planes and Pantsir-S1 rocket complexes (Syria already has a contract to purchase 36 Pantsirs).
www.commersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 19, 2006
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