Syria: President makes official visit to Russia Moscow, 20 August (AKI) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in the Russian capital Moscow on Wednesday for a two-day official visit. Al-Assad is expected to discuss the Middle East peace process and bilateral relations in talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday. Al-Assad's visit is taking place as Russia faces widespread international criticism for its armed occupation of neighboring Georgia. It has rejected a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for the withdrawal of its armed forces. Russia's military said this week Israel had supplied military vehicles and explosives to Georgia and helped to train its army. Syria is reportedly interested in Russia's Pantsyr-S1 Air Defence Missile systems, BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system, military aircraft and other hardware. But Moscow has been criticised for previous arms sales to the Middle Eastern state. Israel and the US have long urged Russia not to sell weapons to Syria, which was a Moscow ally during the Cold War. In an interview with Russian daily Kommersant ahead of his trip to Russia, al-Assad is reported to have accused the West of bias and misinformation regarding its Russia's conflict with Georgia in order to isolate Moscow. "On this issue we fully support Russia... Georgia started this crisis, but the West is blaming Russia," said al-Assad. "The war, which was triggered in Georgia, is the culmination of attempts to encircle and isolate Russia." (The west is guilty of ) "total disinformation, distorting facts and attempts at international isolation." In regard to closer military ties, the Syrian president said: "Of course military and technical cooperation is the main issue. Weapons purchases are very important," he said. "I think we should speed it up. Moreover, the West and Israel continue to put pressure on Russia." Russia's military claims that Israel supplied military vehicles and explosives to Georgia, and that it provided training for its army. The visit is the third by al-Assad to Russia after holding talks in 2005 and 2006 with former Russian President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2423905035 __._,_.___ <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97476590/grpId=141629/grpspId=1705060411/msgId= 2260/stime=1219298337>
