Syria Choppers Censured by Clinton Said to Be Sold Decades Ago

Russia is only repairing helicopters sold to Syria by the Soviet Union, two people familiar with the matter said, after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said shipments of Russian attack choppers were escalating 15 months of violence.

Russia has been fixing about 20 Mi-24 choppers that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez acquired, under a contract signed four years ago, said one of the people, who works in Russia's defense industry and declined to be identified because the matter is confidential. Clinton said yesterday that the U.S. is ``concerned by the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria, which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically.''