Moscow remains upset by the nearly universal condemnation it has received for its recent military campaign against Georgia in support of two breakaway regions. Israel helped supply weapons to Georgia, and Assad made a point of defending Moscow's actions during his meeting with Medvedev in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
"We understand Russia's stance regarding the breakaway regions and understand that it came in retaliation to Georgian provocation," Assad said.
Moscow also seeks to regain some of its Cold War regional sway, when Syria (under Bashar's father, Hafez Assad) was one of its primary client states.
"The timing of Assad's visit is very important. It happens at the time when Russia is very angry at the United States," said Alexander Golts, a defense analyst for Yezhednevny Zhurnal, an independent Russian online publication. "It is highly possible that Russia, being so angered by the West and the United States, now may sell something very nasty to Syria."
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ashraf.khalil@latimes.com
Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko in Moscow contributed to this report.
