Russia may be backing away from Iran sale

By · October 10, 2008

Russia appears to be backing away from a proposed sale of state-of-the-art anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert raised the sale of the S-300s in meetings in Moscow this week with Russian President Dimitri Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Israel fears the missiles, which have a range of 150 kilimoters, will diminish its air superiority in the region and inhibit its ability to preemptively attack Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

Asked Thursday about the Russian response to Olmert’s request, Andrei Nesterenko, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “We have declared more than once at the very highest political level that we do not intend to supply those types of armaments to countries located in regions that are, to put it mildly, uneasy. This is not in the interests of our country’s policy or the interests of preserving stability in one region or another of the world.”