Mideast leaders flock to Moscow for Syrian talks, aerospace salon

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the Jordanian king and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in Moscow Tuesday to discuss the Syrian crisis and take part in a showcase of Russia’s military industry.
Jordanian King Abdullah and the Abu Dhabi heavyweight, Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, visited Moscow. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi is also due in Moscow to attend the Maks-2015 military salon.
Despite foreign interest in the Russian space and defense industries, no international contracts are expected to be signed during the salon, a spokesman for Russia’s state defense import-export company Rosoboronexport, Vyacheslav Davydenko, told AFP last week.
Middle Eastern government delegations have been flooding into Moscow in recent weeks and days, with a Syrian opposition delegation tolerated by the regime of President Bashar Assad arriving on Sunday for talks on the crisis in their war-torn country.
Iranian officials are also expected in Moscow this week to finalize negotiations for Tehran’s purchase of S-300 air defense systems from Russia, much to the dismay of the United States and Israel.
Putin and Abdallah are also expected to discuss the prospect of jointly building Jordan’s first nuclear station, according to the Kremlin.
At Maks salon, over 700 Russian and foreign companies from 30 countries are represented.
Russia earned $15.5 billion from arms sales last year in spite of Western sanctions imposed against its defense sector, making Moscow the world’s second largest arms exporter after Washington, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.