Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 20 / Trend , E.Tariverdiyeva/
This is not the first time that Israeli officials have indicated that Moscow might not sell the S-300 to Iran at Israeli request. And while Moscow will never actually confirm this, the Kremlin may listen to Israeli concerns," American Expert on Iran, Mark N. Katz believes.
"Moscow and Tehran may indeed have signed a contract concerning the S-300," Professor of Politics of the Department of Public and International Affairs at the George Mason University, Katz wrote to Trend in an email. "But as many Western firms have found, Moscow doesn't always fulfill its contracts."
Delivery of S-300 to Iran "will affect the balance of power in the region," Israeli President Shimon Peres said during a video conference from Sochi on Aug. 19, PRIME-TASS reported.
He explained that this issue was discussed during the talks with Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, ITAR-TASS reported. Peres said the Russian leader "promised to consider this matter".
Russia and Israel have developed very close ties since Putin rose to power, Katz believes. Further, Israel has become a source of advanced military technology which Russia desperately needs since it is having trouble producing this itself and cannot get it from other Western sources, he added.
While Tehran has actively sought this weapons system from Moscow and press reports pop up from time about how Russia has agreed to provide it to Iran (or even that Moscow is doing so), the Kremlin has not yet done so, Katz wrote in the article published by "Middle East Strategy at Harvard".
Further, there is reason to believe that the Kremlin will not do so in future either.
Katz believes Moscow now has good relations with Israel, which the Kremlin values for several reasons: the growing Russian-Israeli trade relationship, Israeli security assistance in dealing with Muslim opposition forces inside Russia, and the addition of Israeli technology which greatly enhances Moscow's ability to sell arms to India in particular.
In addition, the expert said, with over a million Russian-speakers now living in Israel, there are close cultural contacts between Russia and Israel-which the Israeli government sought to increase in 2008 when it ended visa requirements for Russian tourists.
Maintaining good relations with Israel has recently become a very important consideration for Moscow, Katz believes.
In April 2009, Israel reportedly agreed to sell $50 million worth of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia. At about this time, Russian sources made clear once again that Moscow was not selling S-300s to Iran.
While Moscow did not give Israel a firm promise not to sell these weapons to Iran, an informed Israeli source indicated that Russian officials did give "a vague assurance that the deal is not going ahead", Reuters reported.
An unattributed commentary published April 20, 2009, in Nezavisimoye voyennoye obozreniye pointed toward a powerful incentive. After noting that the $50 million deal was for 10 Israeli UAVs, the article indicated that Moscow might buy as many as 50 to 100 UAVs from Israel, plus other weapons systems from it, Katz writes. The reason for importing these Israeli products, the article made clear, is because the Russian "military cannot wait indefinitely until our highbrow designers condescend to the army and cease to pull money from it, supplying the field with, instead of modern combat-support systems, merely promises and unsubstantiated advertising arguments."
"Whatever other obstacles there may be to Israel launching an attack against Iran, it does not appear that the Russian S-300 missile defense system will be one of them," Katz believes.
At present the S-300 Russian anti-aircraft missile complex of medium-range is considered one of the most effective means of defense of different types of facilities, military bases and control points from strikes of all types of missiles, including ballistic, and other means of air and space attack.