Bashar and Russian president expected to hold talks

Damascus/Moscow: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad arrived in Moscow on Wednesday on a two-day visit.

He will meet his newly elected Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. He is also expected to hold talks with former Russian president and current prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Sending off a message to the Russians ahead of his trip, he spoke to the Russian Kommersant newspaper, saying: "Our position is that we are ready to cooperate with Russia in any project that can strengthen its security." Asked if his country would accept an offer of air defence from the Russians, Bashar said, "In principle, yes. We have not yet thought about it."

He said he would use this visit to expand military ties with Moscow whose arms sales to the Middle Eastern state have angered the West.

Missile system

Israel and the United States have long urged Russia not to sell weapons to Syria - a key Moscow ally during the Cold War now at the centre of Kremlin ambitions of reviving Russia's Soviet-era role in the Middle East.

Bashar told Kommersant that Russia's conflict with Georgia, in which Moscow says Georgia used Israeli-supplied equipment, underlined the need for Russia and Syria to tighten their defence cooperation. "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."

A diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax news agency that Russia and Syria were preparing a number of deals involving anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems.

"Damascus is Moscow's long-standing partner in military cooperation and we are expecting to reach an agreement in principle on new weapons deals," said the source.

- With inputs from Reuters