Putin: Only UNSC Sanctions to Restrict Russian Arms Sale

 Local Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed "only UN sanctions can restrict Russia's arms sales abroad," a strong signal that Moscow will keep arms sales to Syria.

Putin's comments Wednesday follow Turkey's move to force the landing of a Syrian jet that Turkish officials claimed carried military equipment. Russia said it carried radar parts which were legitimate cargo.

"Only sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council can serve as a basis for limiting weapons supplies," Putin said, according to state-run Itar-Tass news agency.

Putin didn't specifically refer to last week's plane incident, but added that "In all other cases, nobody can use any pretext to dictate to Russia on how it should trade and with whom."
In parallel, the Russian leader added that his country was not delivering any weapons to Syria that could be used in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Moscow has said it will honor earlier weapons contracts with the Syrian government. In this context, Putin stood by Russia's current military-technical cooperation with Syria.

"One-sided or collective bans and restrictions outside the framework of the UN Security Council, especially ones that are politically motivated, are not norms of international law," he said.

He further confirmed that his country "intends to continue to develop such cooperation and carry out absolutely all the obligations we take on."