Syrian Leader in Moscow for Talks With Gorbachev
Syrian President Hafez Assad arrived in Moscow Thursday on a visit expected to be dominated by the thorny problem of Palestinian unity and the conflict in Lebanon.
He was greeted at the airport by President Andrei A. Gromyko, Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov and senior Kremlin foreign policy adviser Anatoly F. Dobrynin, Tass news agency said.
Assad, on his first visit to Moscow since July, 1985, plans to hold talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev before leaving on Saturday.
Asked whether Sokolov’s scheduled presence at the talks means that Soviet arms sales to Syria will be discussed, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that all aspects of bilateral cooperation will be on the agenda.
Syria, the Soviet Union’s closest Middle Eastern ally, receives most of its arms from Moscow, but it pursues policies on the Palestinian question and Lebanon that diplomats say the Kremlin would like to see moderated in some aspects.
“There is a limit to Soviet influence over Syria. Neither side can afford to strain the relationship too much, and the Syrians are Moscow’s entry to an international peace conference on the Middle East,” one diplomat said.
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