Russia completes delivery of S-300 air defenses to Syria
Russia has completed the delivery of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin during a meeting broadcasted by Rossiya 24 TV on Tuesday.
Shoigu said that Russia has delivered four S-300 launchers along with radars and support vehicles.
The minister said it will take three months to train Syrian regime personnel to operate the system.
"The work was finished a day ago," Shoigu said, adding that the system would allow to improve the security of Russian military personal in Syria.
Russia decided to supply the system to Syria despite Israeli objections after Moscow accused Israel of indirectly causing the downing of a Russian military jet in Syria in September.
The military's reconnaissance Il-20 was shot down by the Syrian regime's missile defense systems responding to an Israeli airstrike. Russia laid the blame on Israel, saying Israeli fighter jets had pushed the plane into Syria's line of fire.
Shoigu said the supply of S-300s to Syria will "calm down some hotheads" whose actions "pose a threat to our troops."
The White House previously said it hoped Russia would reconsider the move, which U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton called a "significant escalation" of Syria's seven-year-old war.
