July 6, 1999
Web posted at: 2:08 p.m. EDT (1808 GMT)

In this story: A bridge to dialogue with Israel Syria reportedly seeking anti-tank systems Trip coincides with Aziz visit RELATED STORIES, SITES

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said after a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Syria on Tuesday that Russia must have an active role in securing a lasting peace in the Mideast.

Ivanov said Syria's Hafez al-Assad and Russia's Boris Yeltsin, meeting at the Kremlin, discussed at length the situation in the Middle East, but gave no further details. Ivanov did not comment on the part of the talks that were expected to deal with the purchase of Russian arms by Damascus.

It was Assad's first trip to Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The two presidents, who are both 68, were expected to skirt the thorny issue of Syria's $12 billion worth of debt to Moscow, built up in the Communist era when Damascus was a keen buyer of Soviet arms.

Russia, despite its economic woes, is eager to raise its profile in the Middle East and has indicated it is ready to sell new weapons to Syria worth as much as $2 billion.

Now, with a new Labor government in Israel stirring hopes of progress in the long-stalled Middle East peace process, Assad's Moscow trip has attracted strong international interest.

The Syrian leader has signaled he is ready for a Middle East peace deal and clearly sees his old Moscow ally as a bridge toward resuming a dialogue with Israel.

In 1991, Russia and the United States co-sponsored the Madrid peace conference in which Syria and Israel talked to each other officially for the first time in their long conflict.

The discussions centered on the strategic Golan Heights, which Israel occupied in 1967 and subsequently settled.

Russian diplomats in Beirut have said Moscow is prepared to supply Syria with the upgraded version of its MiG-29 fighter aircraft, the MiG-29 SMT version which has been in production since last December.

Syria is also believed to be seeking anti-tank systems, which would make a formidable arsenal, but which would also put renewed strain on Moscow's relations with Washington, still shaky after the Kosovo crisis, in which Russia fiercely opposed NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia.

U.S. law requires withholding aid if lethal military equipment is transferred to any country on the State Department's blacklist of states considered to support or sponsor international terrorism.

Even though the United States considers Syria to be a pivotal player in the Middle East peace process, Syria has been on that list for years.

Russian officials have indicated that Moscow may be willing to risk Washington's wrath to safeguard its long-term strategic interests in the Middle East.

"We condemn any pressure that aims to prevent trade with our strategic partners," Mikhail Lebedev, the second-ranking Russian diplomat in Damascus, told Reuters in a weekend interview.

Assad arrived in Moscow on Monday, where he received a warm reception at Sheremetyevo Airport.

Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov led the official welcoming party, while about 200 Moscow-based Syrians gathered near the tarmac with flags, flowers and portraits of Assad.

Assad, who trained as a soldier in the Soviet Union, made no comment to waiting journalists.

He had been expected to visit Moscow in April but postponed the trip at the last moment. The Russian capital was also hosting Israel's hard-line Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon at the time.

Assad's visit coincides with a trip to Moscow by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who said he had not planned to meet Assad while in Moscow, but would be glad to do so if an opportunity presents itself.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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