Russian
Military Experts Say The US Patriot Missiles On The Syrian Border Are
Actually Pointed At Iran
Sergei
Strokan and Yelena Chernenko/Kommersant, WorldCrunch
16
December, 2012
Russia
is categorically opposed to the Turkey’s installation of Patriot
anti-aircraft missiles
along its border with Syria.
Most
have assumed that the Moscow's opposition was driven by its
friendship with embattled Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad.
But
Russian military experts tell Kommersant that Moscow is actually
concerned that the missiles will
be used in military action against Iran.
In
spite of the fact that the planned location of the missiles is
relatively far from the Iranian border,
they could be easily deployed to any place in Turkey, and be used
against Iranian rockets.
The
experts Kommersant spoke with said that having the Patriot missiles
in Turkey seriously increases the risk of armed conflict with Iran,
which would not be able to strike back if the Patriot missiles are
deployed.
“Turkey has explained its request to NATO to put the Patriot missiles on its border with Syria as exclusively related to its need to defend itself from a possible attack from the Syrian army.
"But
according to our information, there could be a second motivation for
this actions, which is a preparation for military action against
Iran,” said one diplomatic source in Moscow.
Russia has reacted extremely negatively to Turkey’s plans to install the Patriot missiles. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that this “increases the risk of military conflict,” and evoked Chekhov’s gun syndrome: if there is a gun on the stage in the first act, then it will be shot in the third act.
Western
countries have reacted extremely skeptically to Russia’s concern.
NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen called it “baseless,”
and Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey’s
self-defense plans was none of Russia’s business.
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