Russia will strictly abide by norms of international law regarding the supplies of its weapons to the Middle East, the Russian foreign minister said on Tuesday.
"It is extremely important not to disproportion the military balance in the region. Russia intends to observe in full all international agreements and limitations," Sergei Lavrov said after his meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Lavrov is on tour of the Middle East on June 28-30 to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and other regional issues.
Peres said that the issue is very important adding that "weapons must not be offensive, only defensive."
Military-technical cooperation between Syria and Russia has always been an issue of criticism from Israeli authorities, who express a strong concern over the increase of Syrian defensive potential, but also see a threat of transferring weapons to Lebanese or Palestinian radicals.
Israeli-Palestinian direct peace talks came to a halt in December 2008, when Israel launched an attack on the Gaza Strip in a bid to put an end to the firing of homemade rockets at southern Israel by Palestinian militants based in the enclave. The conflict left 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
JERUSALEM, June 29 (RIA Novosti)
