Moscow wants proof of Hamas' possession of Russian missiles

Russia has asked Israel to present proof that it was a Russian-made missile that hit an Israeli school bus on April 7, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov said Wednesday.

During a conference here devoted to the 20th anniversary of re-establishing diplomatic relations between Russia and Israel, Saltanov said that Moscow wanted to obtain information about the origin of the missile before making any further conclusions.

Saltanov insisted that when signing an arms deal with third countries, Moscow retained the right to inspect "at any moment" where the weaponry ends up.

Dorit Golender, Israel's ambassador to Russia, said at the conference that the arms supplied by Russia to Syria could fall into the hands of "extremists" and be used against Israeli citizens, the Interfax news agency reported.

Israel claimed that the missile had been smuggled into the Gaza Strip from Syria and protested to Russia's ambassador to Israel.

Israeli officials said the weapon that hit the bus in southern Israel was a Russian-made anti-tank missile. Two students were wounded in the attack.

Source: Xinhua

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