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RF deputy PM says illegal arms supplies to Syria is quenching fire with kerosene

All the systems exported to Syria are missile defence systems

MOSCOW, October 18 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has called illegal arms supplies to Syria as “quenching fire with kerosene.”

“Russia is very attentive to all decisions taken by the international community from the point of view of banning arms supplies to disquieted regions and to regions subjected to sanctions of the United Nations Security Council,” Rogozin said on Thursday at a meeting with a delegation from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. “No one ever can lay claims to Russia in this respect.”

“We are supplying to Syria nothing that is banned by international resolutions but rather continue those contracts we signed long ago,” he stressed. “All the systems exported to Syria are missile defence systems. It is hardly imaginable that a missile defence system could be used in a civil conflict against civil population. Not a single futurist can invent such a scenario, it is impossible.”

Commenting on the interception of a Syrian civilian plane in Turkey, Rogozin referred to the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who reiterated that it was a legal delivery of legal equipment. “I think that it is wrong to focus on Russia in this sense, it has always been committed to its international liabilities,” he said. “It is better to focus on those who supplies weapons to Syria, including weapons to be used in urban environment and against legitimate authorities, and who does it illegally. Quenching fire with kerosene is not the best option.”

“Stop supporting the ‘Arab spring,’” Rogozin urged. “It is not going to yield any good. The ‘Arab spring’ will be followed by a hot ‘Arab summer’ and nobody will be happy with that.”