Tank T-90 - seperti salah satu daripada 150 sebelum ini Rusia merancang untuk membekalkan ke Arab Saudi (T-90 tank - like one of 150 Russia previously planned to supply to Saudi Arabia (RIA Novosti/Valeriy Melnikov)
Hamdenbinbolly – Arab
Saudi telah dilaporkan ditawarkan untuk membeli senjata bernilai sehingga $ 15
bilion daripada Rusia, dan menyediakan rakit konsesi ekonomi dan politik kepada
Kremlin - semua dalam usaha untuk melemahkan sokongan Moscow Presiden Syria
Bashar Assad.
Inisiatif diplomatik tanpa nama
disuarakan kepada Reuters oleh pelbagai diplomat negara Teluk dan pemimpin
kanan pembangkang Syria, di tengah-tengah mesyuarat minggu lepas di Moscow
antara Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin dan Arab Majlis Keselamatan Negara Ketua
Putera Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Ahli politik Arab telah merancang dasar
luar negara itu pada bulan-bulan kebelakangan ini.
“Bandar yang ditawarkan untuk
meningkatkan tenaga, ketenteraan dan kerjasama ekonomi dengan Moscow,” seorang
tokoh kanan pembangkang Syria kepada Reuters.
“Bandar bin Sultan bin
Abdulaziz berusaha untuk mengurangkan kedua-dua kebimbangan Russian utama: Yang
pelampau Islam akan menggantikan Assad, dan bahawa Syria akan menjadi satu
saluran untuk Teluk, terutamanya Qatar, gas mengorbankan Rusia”
$ 15 bilion itu telah
disebut-sebut oleh seorang wakil pembangkang anti-Assad, yang Arab Saudi telah
kuat disokong seluruh pemberontakan di Syria yang telah berkhidmat lebih
daripada 2 tahun. Sementara itu, sumber Teluk mendakwa bahawa tidak ada angka
yang terlibat.
Moscow dan Riyadh, yang secara
tradisinya memperoleh senjata dari Amerika Syarikat, telah mempunyai kontrak
besar-besaran di atas ais sejak 2008. Di bawah terma Arab Saudi, Rusia akan
membekalkan pelbagai peralatan besar, termasuk 150 T-90 kereta kebal dan lebih
daripada 100 helikopter.
Pada masa lalu, Moscow telah
dibekalkan berbilion-bilion dolar senjata untuk Assad, serta mengekalkan
pangkalan tentera laut di Syria.
Bersama-sama dengan China, ia
telah secara konsisten disekat resolusi Majlis Keselamatan PBB, mengatakan
mereka tidak meletakkan apa-apa tuntutan ke atas pembangkang - hanya pada
Assad.
Saudi Arabia dangles
lucrative arms deal in front of Russia in exchange for dropping Assad - report
Saudi Arabia has reportedly
offered to buy arms worth up to $15 billion from Russia, and provided a raft of
economic and political concessions to the Kremlin - all in a bid to weaken
Moscow’s endorsement of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The diplomatic initiatives were
anonymously voiced to Reuters by multiple Gulf state diplomats and senior
leaders of the Syrian opposition, in the wake of last week’s meeting in Moscow
between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi National Security Council
chief Prince Bandar bin-Sultan. The Saudi politician has orchestrated his
country’s foreign policy in recent months.
"Bandar offered to
intensify energy, military and economic cooperation with Moscow," a senior
Syrian opposition figure told Reuters.
"Bandar sought to allay
two main Russian fears: that Islamist extremists will replace Assad, and that
Syria would become a conduit for Gulf, mainly Qatari, gas at the expense of
Russia."
The $15 billion figure was
touted by a representative of the anti-Assad opposition, which Saudi Arabia has
strongly backed throughout the rebellion in Syria which has lasted more than
two years. Meanwhile, a Gulf source claimed that no specific figure was
involved.
Moscow and Riyadh, which
traditionally acquires its arms from the United States, have had a massive
contract on ice since 2008. Under Saudi Arabia’s terms, Russia would supply a
huge assortment of equipment, including 150 T-90 tanks and more than 100 attack
helicopters.
In the past, Moscow has
supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons to Assad, as well as maintained a
naval base in Syria.
Saudi Putera Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Ketua Ketua Perisikan dan Setiausaha Agung Majlis Keselamatan Negara Arab Saudi, semasa lawatan beliau Moscow (Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Chief of General Intelligence and Secretary-General of the National Security Council of Saudi Arabia, during his Moscow visit (RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolsky)
Sumber menunjukkan bahawa
Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz meminta Putin untuk tidak menentang apa-apa
resolusi Majlis Keselamatan masa depan Syria.
Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz
juga dilaporkan yakin Putin bahawa negara-negara Teluk tidak akan mencabar
kedudukan dominan Rusia dalam pasaran gas Eropah, dan memberi jaminan kepadanya
bahawa kuasa-kuasa pelampau Islam - yang telah menjadi terkenal dalam konflik -
tidak akan cuba untuk memonopoli kuasa dalam negeri Syria pada masa hadapan.
Walaupun diplomat yang terlibat
dalam rundingan menggambarkan mereka sebagai “tidak meyakinkan,” kata seorang
utusan Lubnan dekat dengan delegasi berkata anggota Arab yang telah “gembira.”
Tiada sebarang komen dari Kremlin mengenai hasil lawatan itu, selain untuk
mengatakan bahawa perwakilan membincangkan “pelbagai isu” dengan Presiden
Putin.
Seorang diplomat Barat kepada
Reuters bahawa kedudukan Rusia adalah lebih suatu perkara yang prestij dan
geopolitik, dan bahawa negara ini tidak mungkin secara terbuka berundur demi
insentif ekonomi semata-mata.
Satu sidang damai berjadual di
Geneva, yang dicadangkan oleh Rusia dan Amerika Syarikat, telah ditolak ke
belakang dan kini di bawah ancaman pembatalan. Mesyuarat itu sepatutnya untuk
mencapai gencatan senjata segera dan mentadbir peralihan politik di Syria.
Konflik ini mempunyai
sebahagian besarnya berengsel sama ada Presiden Bashar Assad akan diharamkan
daripada bermain sebarang peranan politik pasca konflik Syria - keadaan
pembangkang telah menuntut sebelum ia duduk di meja rundingan.
Lebih daripada 100,000 orang
telah terkorban dalam konflik itu, menurut anggaran PBB.
Sources indicate that Bandar
asked Putin to not oppose any future Security Council resolutions on Syria.
Bandar also reportedly assured
Putin that Gulf states will not challenge Russia’s dominant position in the
European gas markets, and assured him that extremist Islamic forces – which
have gained prominence in the conflict – will not attempt to monopolize power
in a future Syrian state.
While diplomats involved in the
talks described them as “inconclusive,” one Lebanese emissary close to the
delegation said its Saudi members were “elated.” There has been no comment from
the Kremlin on the outcome of the visit, other than to say that the delegates
discussed a “wide range of issues” with President Putin.
A Western diplomat told Reuters
that Russia’s position was more a matter of prestige and geopolitics, and that
the country was unlikely to publicly back down for the sake of mere economic incentives.
A long-scheduled peace
conference in Geneva, proposed by Russia and the US, has been pushed back and
is currently under threat of cancellation. The meeting was supposed to achieve
an immediate ceasefire and govern a political transition in Syria.
The conflict has largely hinged
on whether President Bashar Assad will be banned from playing any political
role in post-conflict Syria - a condition the opposition has demanded before it
sits down at the negotiating table.
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