Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Russia on Thursday for a two-day visit during which he is seeking to purchase advanced weaponry from Moscow including the Pantsyr-S1 Air Defense Missile system, the BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system and the sophisticated S-300 long range anti-aircraft missile system already purchased by Iran. The new Russo-Syrian military cooperation comes in face of the recent US-Poland missile deal which positions NATO missile systems on Russia’s western front. 08/21/08