Jun 24, 2012
MOSCOW, (SANA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated on Sunday that the Russian ship Alaed is transporting overhauled helicopters to Syria and, not new ones.
In an interview Rossiya-1 TV channel, Lavrov said that Russia and Syria signed a contract since 2008 to overhaul and repair Soviet-era helicopters, which were delivered to Russia and repaired and these helicopters were transported to Syria disassembled, where they're expected to be assembled in no less than three months.
Lavrov said that Russia supplies armaments to Syria under contracts which are not secret, and that they are primarily defensive anti-aircraft armaments, which may be needed only in case of an external aggression against Syria.
"We are not going to make any excuses because we did not breach anything. We violated neither international law, nor UN Security Council resolutions nor our national legislation on export control, which is one of the tightest in the world," Lavrov pointed out.
The ship Alaed was forced to return to the Russian port of Murmansk after the British insurance company repealed its insurance. It will be sent again under the Russian flag and accompanied by another ship.
© SANA (Syria Arab News Agency) 2012
