Russia threatens to aid Assad over EU 'double standards'

Russia has responded to a European Union move to lift its arms embargo for Syrian rebels by considering giving president Bashar Assad more high-powered missiles – raising the prospect of a new foreign-fed arms race in the Middle East.

The public brinkmanship comes as Russia and the US are trying to bring both sides in Syria to Geneva for talks on ending the country’s devastating two-year civil war.

The Geneva talks next month, mediated by the US and Russia, offer what Western diplomats say is the best – if still very tenuous – chance to end the bloodshed that is increasingly threatening to embroil Syria’s Middle East neighbours.

Syria’s civil war has already claimed over 70,000 lives and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the country.

In Moscow, Russian officials attacked the EU move – which was rammed through a divided EU foreign ministers meeting by Britain and France – saying that it undermines the US and Russian peace efforts.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said Russia could provide Assad’s regime with state-of-the art air defence missiles to prevent foreign intervention in the country, although he did not say whether any of the long-range S-300 missile systems had been sent already.

Mr Ryabkov called the EU move “a manifestation of double standards” that will hurt the prospects for the Geneva talks.

Russia has been a key ally of the Syrian regime, protecting it from UN sanctions and providing it with weapons despite criticism from other nations.

Monday’s EU agreement lifts a self-imposed embargo on weapons deliveries into Syria – notably equipment that could at least partially help the outgunned rebel fighters hold their own against Syria’s massive, Russian-backed firepower.

EU diplomats said Britain and France were the only two member states considering such deliveries.

US senator John McCain, meanwhile, made an unannounced visit to rebel forces in Syria, putting more pressure on Assad to seek a negotiated settlement.