Russia Supplies Weapon To Syria, Has Not Canceled Military Deal: Syrian Diplomat

Russia provides economic, political and military aid to Syria, claims Oleg Fomin, the co-chairman of the Committee for Solidarity with the Peoples of Syria. According to Fomin, no military contract between the countries had been canceled.

BGN News earlier reported Russia had sent six MiG-31 fighter jets to Damascus, as a part of a deal signed in 2007. The Mikoyan MiG-31, developed by the Soviet Air Force, is one of the fastest fighter planes in the world. According to the Turkish news agency, the jets have a target range of around 200 kilometers (124 miles).

Russia, on the contrary, denied providing any fighter jet to Syria, and said that it had no plans to do so in future either. “We have not delivered this [type of] aircraft to Syria and are not going to supply them there,” Press TV quoted Sergei Korotkov, the head of the Russian MiG Corporation, as saying.

Russia provided Mi-28 attack helicopters to Iraq in 2014 to help the gulf country fight the Islamic State group. ISIS forces, along with other foreign backed militants, have been extremely active in Syria since 2011.

Fomin said that Russia had never canceled the deal with Syria as the Kremlin was still supplying military aid to the Assad regime. However, he added that there were not enough helicopters and airplanes.

Fomin told Pravda that the Turkish report about the delivery was reasonable as the Syrian army had been fighting extremist forces in the country.

Russia recently asked Western powers to include the Syrian army in the battle against ISIS militants. According to Fomin, Russia is going to press the West on the issue so that “the lesser of the two evils” is chosen.