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| Clockwise from top, Sergei Lavrov, Mao Zedong and Jack Dempsey |
Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seems to believe the best way to defend the
Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad is to go on the offensive.
“The best defense is a good offense” is
an expression that has been used in many fields, including sports, politics and
military combat.
The
quote is often attributed to Jack Dempsey and Mao Zedong.
Jack
Dempsey was an American professional boxer who held the
World Heavyweight Championship from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey’s aggressive style
and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in
history.
Mao
Zedong is the first head of state of the People’s
Republic of China, leading the communist revolution from 1935 to his victory
over Chiang Kai-Shek in the mainland in 1949, establishing communist rule in
China and ruling it until his death in 1976.
To
my mind at least, “the best defense is a good offense” seems to be the
underlying tone of Lavrov’s remarks to journalists in Moscow yesterday.
Here is what he said:
The issue of foreign
intervention in Syria is being posed in a “radical and quite emotional way.”
Foreign players are encouraging the armed opposition to hope “the Libyan
scenario” could be repeated, “All this is a dangerous game… Some foreign players support armed groups of the
opposition and at the same time demand that the international community take
decisive steps to change the regime in Syria.”
“Today (Saturday), a bus carrying Russian specialists was attacked in
western Damascus.” On Friday, a building housing Russian specialists was fired
at from a grenade launcher. “One grenade hit the second floor wall, causing
damage. Fortunately, no one was injured.”
Russia has enough
evidence about arms being supplied to the Syrian opposition, which is acting under
the command of external forces. “Our
Saudi colleagues, our Qatari colleagues… just yesterday, there was a forum for
businessmen who want to support the Syrian opposition. All this information is
openly available… There are enough data confirming the armed opposition is
being supplied with weapons and other means which are necessary to maintain
combat capability.”
Moscow has heard from Russians
living in Syria, and from reporters on the ground, that the opposition is
persecuting Assad loyalists.
The main reason Kofi
Annan’s peace plan is beginning to “seriously falter” is because those who
support external intervention in Syria impede its implementation. They “don’t like” the idea of the
stabilization it can bring. “They want
the international community to be filled with indignation and start a
full-blown intervention in Syria.”
Disruptions of Annan’s
plan should be blamed on the uncoordinated actions of outside forces. “Not only
the Syrian government is responsible for what’s going on now; the crisis is also
to be blamed on the actions of those people who have not stopped giving money
to illegal armed groups, hire mercenaries, help transfer them abroad and flirt
with extremists to reach their own goals.”
Advocates of military
intervention in Syria want to dominate the Arab world. Russia will do
everything it can to prevent this.
To justify outside
intervention, certain parties “keep
talking about the refugees from Syria. However, nobody talks about refugees
inside Syria itself. This is similar to the former Yugoslavia. Does anybody
think about the refugees from Serbia and Slovenia?”
There are an estimated one
million refugees from Iraq and half a million Palestinians in Syria, and “people don’t talk much about that.”
Western countries’ attempts
to set a deadline for implementation of the Annan plan are meant to send an
ultimatum to the Syrian authorities. But Russia will “never agree to the UN Security Council sanctioning the use of force”
against Damascus as it would lead “to
severe consequences on the entire Middle East region.”
Russia will not oppose Assad’s
exit resulting from a dialogue among Syrians themselves. “If the Syrians agree amongst
themselves (on Assad’s exit), we will only be happy to support such a solution.
But we believe it is unacceptable to impose the conditions for such a dialogue
from outside."
Obviously, “The way the Syrian crisis is resolved will play an important
role in the world tomorrow -- whether the world will be based on the UN Charter,
or a place where might makes right.”
And “blocking Syrian government and private
channels from (TV and radio) broadcasting,” as recently demanded by Arab League
foreign ministers, does not “square well with freedom of speech…We should all
be on the same page regarding freedom of speech and how it should be respected
by the international community to ensure access to information – no matter what
kind of information it is.”
Moscow sees “no alternative” to an international conference to support Annan’s
plan and encourage dialogue between the state and the armed opposition. “The conference should come under the UN
umbrella.” Participants would discuss ways to improve Annan’s plan. “I
do not think the plan is outdated. Moreover, all its points remain vital.”
To be effective, “all
forces that have influence on Syria should take part in the conference. And
Iran is one of the counties having real influence on the Syrian government.”
Blocking Iran from the
conference “would be thoughtless at
the very least… We would like the conference to be open, with explicit
discussion that will show whether there is a possibility to agree on
coordinated… measures towards both the Syrian government and all the country’s
opposition groups.”
Moscow wants the
conference held as soon as possible, but expert consultations with
representatives of other countries that also have influence on Syria should precede the meeting.
“We are not supplying
the Syrian government with arms that even an overwrought imagination could
suppose are being used against peaceful protesters. We are completing the
implementation of contracts signed and pre-paid long ago on deliveries of air
defense weapons that could be used only if Syria is subjected to military
intervention from abroad. We are not delivering anything else.”
In contrast, “Our U.S.
colleagues are supplying countries of the Persian Gulf region with the very
type of arms that could be used against peaceful demonstrators.”
(Syria, the largest importer of Russian weapons in the Middle East,
has recently signed contracts with Rosoboronexport for the supply of 24
MiG-29M/M2 fighter jets and eight Buk-M2E air-defense systems. A contract for
the supply of Bastion anti-ship missile systems armed with SS-N-26 Yakhont
supersonic cruise missiles is currently being implemented.)
