From Radio Free Europe:

ISRAEL WARNS RUSSIA OVER POSSIBLE MISSILE SALES TO SYRIA. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said in Jerusalem on March 2 that Russia should scrap plans to negotiate a new arms deal with Syria involving advanced antitank and antiaircraft missiles, dpa reported. Peres warned that such sales would encourage Syria to "turn to a road of war." The news agency noted that Israeli media have recently quoted unspecified Israeli officials as saying they have learned that the negotiations are in their final stages and involve selling several thousand of the missiles to Damascus for hundreds of millions of dollars. The missiles are reportedly able to pierce the armor on any modern Western tank. Israeli Radio quoted unnamed "senior government officials" as warning that the missiles would probably "reach" Hizballah in Lebanon, which would then use them against Israeli tanks (see "RFE/RL Newsline," September 7 and 12, and October
17, 2006). Former Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, of the opposition Likud party, told Israeli Radio on March 2 that President Putin wants to return Russia to the era of the former Soviet Union and the international status it had at the time. Shalom stressed that Putin "is playing with fire." On March 2, Foreign Minister Lavrov called on Israel to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as a step toward making the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, news.ru reported. PM

ARE ARMS SALES HELPING DRIVE RUSSIAN POLICY IN MIDDLE EAST? The Russian daily "Vedomosti" noted on March 1 that "Russia has become one of the chief problems for U.S. policy in the Middle East," particularly where Iran is concerned, which "enables Moscow to demonstrate the potential geopolitical benefits of friendship with Russia to other Middle Eastern countries." The paper stressed that "Moscow and Washington have disagreed in the Middle East before, but matters have not gone this far since the Cold War era.... As recently as 2005, Russia bowed to pressure from the United States and Israel and declined to sell portable surface-to-air missiles to Syria. [Instead, it] signed an agreement with the United States on reciprocal notification about any such arms deals in future." The daily pointed out that "the Middle East is a key area for Russia's arms and nuclear technologies exports. Putin is relying on this potential in his efforts to diversify the Russian economy." PM