DAMASCUS // In a visit laden with echoes of the Cold War, Bashar al Assad, the Syrian president, arrived in Russia yesterday for a state visit that offered a further signal of the Kremlin's efforts to revive its ties in the Middle East and defy the United States. The talks between Russia and Syria, old Cold War allies, come as Moscow continues to shrug off growing international pressure over the presence of its troops in Georgia. The conflict there has developed into a standoff between the Kremlin and the White House. Although scheduled before the war in the Caucasus, the two-day visit by Mr Assad to Russia is unlikely to help defuse tensions between Washington and Moscow. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that the United States and Poland signed a deal yesterday on missile defence. News of the impending agreement had prompted ominous Russian warnings that Warsaw was exposing itself to a military strike.
The talks between Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, and Mr Assad in Sochi on the Black Sea coast, are one more sign of deteriorating US-Russian relations. With the war in Georgia, these geopolitical fault lines have become cemented. The United States backed Georgia, politically and with materiel. Israel is also accused by Russia of arming Georgian troops, which the Jewish state denies. Angry at their interference in what it sees as its own backyard, Russia is using this summit to reaffirm its embrace of Syria, a country that remains officially at war with Israel.
In an interview with the Russian press yesterday, Mr Assad said he "fully supported" Moscow in the Caucasus war. "Georgia started this crisis, but the West is blaming Russia," he said. The day before, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, insisted Russia was "the outlaw in this conflict" after refusing to pull out its troops. As for Syria, Washington considers it a state sponsor of terrorism. And while the Bush administration has long sought to weaken Damascus, Russia has been doing the opposite, increasing its support.
Mr Assad made it clear that weapons sales would top the agenda when he met his Russian counterpart. "Of course military and technical co-operation is the main issue," he said. "Weapons purchases are very important. I think we should speed it up. Moreover, the West and Israel continue to put pressure on Russia." Syria is dependent on Russia for military equipment, and in recent years transfers of modern weapons to bolster Syria's ageing hardware have been renewed.
Israel has consistently lobbied the Russians not to sell weapons to Syria. Claims - always denied by Damascus and never properly sourced - are frequently made by Syria's enemies that it channels advanced Russian hardware to Iran and Hizbollah, for use in any conflict against the United States or Israel. Syria remains highly secretive about all matters relating to its military capabilities and national security. What is clear, however, is that billions of dollars in Cold War debts owed by Syria to Russia were cancelled in June, an economic reprieve much needed by cash-strapped Damascus. Pravda, a Russian daily newspaper, reported this month of plans by the Russian navy to upgrade facilities in Tartuz, a Syrian port on the Mediterranean Sea used to support the Russian fleet.
"The Russians are back heavily in the region, and they are looking to Syria because the other Arab states are following the American line," said Attallah Rumheen, a professor in Damascus University's media faculty. Like tens of thousands of Syrians, he graduated from a Russian university. Books on Marxism and Leninism, mainly in Russian, line his library wall. "For the last decade, the Russians were squeezed in the Middle East; they saw their influence falling and being replaced by the Americans. That is now coming to an end.
"The Russians have money, their economy is strong, and they are united domestically. That is the opposite of the situation in the US." Mr Rumheen said he expected to see a new Cold War spreading across the Middle East as the two powers vie for supremacy. "The situation is heading towards a new Cold War, with a new polarisation of areas under Russian and US influence," he said. "The Americans and the Russians must start talking properly again, otherwise a return to the Cold War is inevitable. I think the Cold War will return. It will be slightly different from before, but the essence will be the same."
The contrast between US and Russian influence on Syria could not be more stark. While the US Embassy in Damascus is without an ambassador, the Russians have a sprawling, heavily fortified complex. While the United States has unilaterally imposed economic and trade sanctions on Syria in an attempt to undermine the regime, state-owned Russian firms do business, particularly in the energy sector, building new oil refineries and pipelines and updating power stations.
Even during the spring of 2005, when Syria was ostracised over the death of Rafiq Hariri in Beirut and forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, the Russians maintained their close relationship with Damascus and signed a major weapons deal. The next year, with Syria still under intense international pressure over the assassination - in which it insists it played no part - Mr Assad flew to Moscow for a meeting with Vladimir Putin, who was president at the time.
Since then Syria's international presence has been on the rise, and US attempts to isolate Syria were undermined last month when France invited Mr Assad to Paris for an EU Mediterranean summit. The days of Damascus's isolation over the Hariri killing appear over. Syria is adamant it is not just a Russian client state but is involved in a relationship of equality, based on converging mutual interests.
"Like all countries, Syria is trying to advance and develop and for that it needs to be open to the world," said Umran Zaubie, a political analyst and member of Syria's ruling Baath Party. "Syria wants to co-operate with the EU and has good relations with America, but the Americans have had sanctions against Syria and have tried to block our development. The Russians have not. For that reason, it is obvious which direction Syria must look."
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