MOSCOW, May 23 (AVN) - Syrian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Mustafa Talas will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov, Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo and defence committee chairman in the State Duma lower house of parliament Andrei Nikolayev here on Wednesday, a source in the Defence Ministry told the Military News Agency.
The talks are expected to centre on settlement in the Middle East and prospects of full-scale restoration of the Russian-Syrian relations, the source said. Talas is likely to call on the Russian leadership on behalf of the Syrian government and several other Arab nations to assume a more active stance in the Middle Eastern settlement.
Syria radically opposes US attempts at becoming the only co-sponsor of the peace process in the Middle East and believes that the situation in the area has been deteriorating since Washington assumed the role of the chief peacemaker, the source said. The Arab world rejects the new US initiatives that call on all parties to return to the negotiating table without any conditions.
According to data obtained by the Agency, during the discussion of co-operation enhancement Syria is planning to study purchasing conditions of almost all types of armament and military equipment that Russia puts up for export. However the source said that specific discussion on arms trade would only be possible after the Russian leadership officially approves demothballing of military and technical co-operation with Syria.