Putin Says Russia Has Not Sent Syria Anti-Air Missiles

Contradicting what other Russian officials have said

Russia has changed its story, yet again, about its intention to fulfill a 3-year old contract to sell "game-changing" S-300 advanced air defense systems to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. Now the answer is "no."

In direct contradiction to what top Russian officialswere saying just last week, President Vladimir Putintold European Union leaders at a summit in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg Tuesday that Russia has suspended the $900 million contract to supply six batteries and 144 long range, deadly-accurate surface-to-air missiles, in the interests of preserving stability in the turbulent Middle East.