JERUSALEM, Jan 13 (AFP) - Israel asked Russia Thursday to cancel a reported deal to sell missiles to its foe Syria, while striving to avert a deterioration in vital ties with Moscow.
"We spoke to the Russians and we asked them to scrap this contract," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters.
"Syria is a country that supports terrorism and continually transfers weapons to Hezbollah," he said, referring to the radical Lebanese Shiite Muslim group. "The entire world is acting to isolate Syria because of its support to terrorism."
A high-ranking official had said earlier that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent Russian President Vladimir Putin a message asking him to stop the reported deal.
"The prime minister sent a message to the Russian president to explain that this sale could be a threat to Israel and that these missiles risked ending up in the hands of Hezbollah and other Damascus-based terrorist organisations," the Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.
But a top Russian lawmaker on Thursday completely denied any such deal was on the cards, describing the reports as "a myth".
"There has not been any contract signed," Mikhail Margelov, head of the upper house Federation Council's foreign affairs committee, was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti agency.
"It's as likely as announcing the sale of the Lenin ice-breaker to Bahrain," said Margelov, who is considered to be close to Putin.
A report published Thursday in the Russian newspaper Kommersant said Moscow was ready to ink a deal with Damascus for Iskander missiles. The mobile weapon has a range of 50-280 kilometres (30-170 miles). If fired from Syria, they could hit almost any spot in Israel.
Yet according to sources in Israel, the security establishment is more concerned with the sale of Russia's latest-generation SA-18 missiles to Syria, which is technically at war with the Jewish state.
The shoulder-launched SA-18, also known as the "Igla," belongs to the category of so-called Man Portable Air Defence (Manpad) missiles, of which Russia is one of the chief producers.
It weighs barely more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds), has a maximum range of six kilometres and can be used to shoot down planes and helicopters. Israel fears Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will sign a contract during a visit to Moscow planned January 24.
On Wednesday, Russia categorically denied it intended to sell missiles to Syria.
Sharon's government has received the backing of the United States, which issued a stark warning to both Syria and Russia over the reported deal.
Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim said he expected firm intervention from Washington to foil the sale, as he claimed SA-18 missiles could be used to shoot down cargo planes bringing supplies to troops in Iraq.
"We have to make it very clear that this sale is unacceptable and that Moscow should bear in mind its relations with Israel and think about the place it wants to have in the international war on terror," he told army radio.
While the reported contract threatened to plunge bilateral relations into an unprecedented crisis when Israel first learned of it two weeks ago, observers said Israel was now trying to coax Russia out of the deal to prevent a rift with an important ally.
"Russia is a member of the quartet, understands the need for regional stability and the need to isolate extremists and encourage moderates," Shalom said Thursday.
Together with the United States, United Nations and European Union, Russia is member of the so-called quartet of key diplomatic players in the region who drafted the "roadmap" peace blueprint that both Israel and the Palestinians are expected to revive in coming months.
According to the official commentator on military radio, Israel is also eager not to upset a permanent member of the UN security council or damage relations with a country which still provides a steady flow of Jewish immigrants.
Israel is also thought to be more concerned with preventing Russia from assisting Iran in acquiring nuclear capability, an issue of broader strategic importance in comparison with the SA-18 missiles, used mainly in guerrilla warfare.

01/13/2005 15:25 GMT - AFP