Russia Started Delivering S-300 Missile System to Syria

Local Editor

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that his country has already started delivering the S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system to Syria as part of its efforts to ensure the safety of Russian forces in the Arab country.

"The delivery has been started already. And as President [Vladimir] Putin said, after that incident […] the measures which we will take will be devoted to ensure 100 percent safety and security of our men in Syria," said Lavrov at a press conference following his speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday in New York.

Earlier, Moscow declared that the “Israeli” fighter jets were responsible for Syria’s downing of a Russian aircraft as they hid themselves behind it.

Russia says it had suspended the delivery of its S-300 missile defense system for years over concerns raised by Tel Aviv; however, the recent plane crash prompted the Kremlin to press ahead with its earlier plan to deliver the missile system to Syria within two weeks in a bid to boost the Arab country’s air defense capabilities and take “adequate retaliatory measures”.

Addressing the same press conference on Friday, Lavrov referred to his country’s recent agreement with Turkey over the northern province of Idlib, where both anti-government militants and Takfiri terrorists are living, and said Moscow won’t let terrorists use Idlib as a safe passage to run away.

Based on the deal, Ankara has agreed to separate the armed opposition from radicals and extremists who belong to groups branded as terrorists by the United Nations.

"There is talk that they will be sent off to other hotspots, for example Afghanistan," Lavrov said, slamming the decision as unacceptable and vowing not to let that happen.

The Russian diplomat underlined that the terrorists have to be eliminated or there has to be a judicial process to punish them.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team