HEADS OF DUMA COMMITTEES BELIEVE THAT RUSSIA SHOULD THINK ABOUT ITS OWN INTERESTS ABOVE ALL IN SELLING WEAPONS TO CYPRUS MOSCOW, 13 JANUARY, /FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT VALERY ASRIYAN/

Russia should think about its own interests above all in selling military hardware to any country, Mikhail Surkov, in charge of the Duma defence committee, told RIA Novosti. He believes that "the noise made in some countries, in the US and Turkey first of all", over Cyprus desicion to buy S-300 AA rocket complexes was produced by their non-willingness to admit Russia onto the world military hardware market, rather than their concern over shift of the balance there.

Surkov stressed that the Russian weapons are still in high demand overseas, and "our state is in position to sell it and enrich its purse by doing so". To prove his stance, he referred to the example of South Korea, which "is full of the US weapons". "As soon as any rumour about Moscow-Seoul military deal spreads, the US is always there to react", Surkov said.

Chairman of the Duma security committee Viktor Ilyukhin reminded RIA Novosti that a 30,000-men-strong Turkish army equipped with the modern weapons is stationed in Cyprus. This makes any idea of "shifting the balance by the delivery of Russian-made S-300 complexes to the Greek community of Cyprus" ridiculous. Ilyukhin believes that the reaction of the West to the intention of Nicosia to purchase S-300 complexes can be explained by the US concern over losing "the actual monopoly in weapons business", which Washington acquired after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "Russia has been pushed out from the world market of weaponry, and we have to suffer great losses because of this", he said. Meanwhile, according to Ilyukhin, "our country has modern weapons which are in high demand all over the world".