Putin Says Russia Withholds S-300 From Syria to Preserve Balance

Russia hasn’t delivered S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Syria to avoid upsetting the regional balance of power, President Vladimir Putin said.

“It’s perhaps the best such weapon in the world,” Putin said at a briefing with European Commission head Jose Barroso and European Union President Herman Van Rompuy in the Urals regional capital of Yekaterinburg. “We don’t want to alter the balance in the region. The contract was signed several years ago. It hasn’t yet been fulfilled.”