No arm deals made with Colombian militants – Lavrov

20 Nov, 2008 05:13 / Updated 14 years ago

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stressed that no arms deals have been made with Colombian militants.

“Concerning Russia’s cooperation with other countries in military and technological spheres, we do not supply arms to any illegal armed units,” he said during a visit to Bogotá where he met with the Colombian leadership. “All our accords and contracts in the military sector specify that there we cannot supply arms to just anyone – there are prohibitions. We are aware of the media leak concerning Russia’s arms supply to Colombian rebels or other military groups. We are checking all this information but none of it has yet been proven.” He also insisted that Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Latin American countries, scheduled for November, is not a snub against the United States as stated in a number of Colombian media reports. “Such assessments are leftovers of Cold War thinking, when people say that anything that benefits Washington is bad for Moscow, and vice versa,” he said. Related linksOrthodoxy gets foothold in Cuba Russia to loan Chavez $1BLN to buy arms – source