According to Rinpoche, the official response from Moscow cited the 65th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II as a complicating factor in their decision. “A visit by the Dalai Lama to Russia would be taken particularly painfully by Beijing during the current anniversary year of our shared victory with China in the Second World War,” read the response.

Russia’s concern over preserving positive relations with China, a major economic partner, was also the basis of the 2004 visa debacle. At the time, China, which sees the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist and routinely berates countries that allow him to visit, even issued a statement of approval of Russia’s refusal to grant the Buddhist leader’s visa. But following subsequent protests by Russian Buddhists, Moscow reversed its decision. This time around, said Rinpoche, “such a refusal is distressing, but we are not going to stop and will continue to work in this direction.”

But any reference to the World War II anniversary, which Russians celebrate annually as Victory Day with more fervency than almost any other national holiday, means that the Foreign Ministry is unlikely to relent. In addition to that, Rinpoche said that Moscow’s response cautioned that future discussions on a possible trip by the Dalai Lama to Russia would depend on “signs of an ease in tension in his relations with the official authorities of the PRC [People’s Republic of China].” Judging by the extent to which China lambasted the United States for the Buddhist leader’s February trip to meet with US President Barack Obama, no such ease is in sight.

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, “the term ‘paralyzing sanctions’ is, of course, something we completely refuse to accept. Sanctions should follow the aim of strengthening the state of nuclear nonproliferation.”

The minister stressed that sanctions cannot be interpreted as something to be used to punish an entire country and its people.

When questioned about Russia’s plans to sell Iran their S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, Ryabkov said that a contract is already in place and Russia intends to fulfill it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressly asked that Russia scrap plans to sell the system to Iran in a meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev earlier this week, fearing that the system could help Iran stave off any possible attacks from Israel or the United States on its nuclear facilities.

Ryabkov said that recent delays in delivering the system were due to “technical problems” and dismissed questions regarding the two countries partnership on military technology as politically motivated.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said earlier on Friday that Iran’s failure to cooperate with the international community on its nuclear program was “very alarming.” In an interview on Ekho Moskvy radio, Lavrov emphasized the importance of Russia’s relationship with Iran as a “close neighbor” and a “partner,” saying that what happens in Iran “concerns both our economic interests and our interests in regards to security.”

Lavrov also issued what, given Ryabkov’s later statement, appears to have been a serious caveat: “I don’t think that we [the United States and Russia] have a united position [on Iran], because for both the United States and for us – and this is a position where we agree – it is of principle importance to prevent violations of the state of nuclear nonproliferation. This, most definitely, is our common, united position. However,” he continued, “we do not agree one hundred percent on the methods for its realization.”

“We are ready, and Dmitri Medvedev has confirmed this, to review a Syrian request to purchase new types of weapons,” Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting between Medvedev and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “We will supply Syria primarily with weapons of a defensive nature that will not disturb the strategic balance in the region.”

Al-Assad is currently in Moscow on his first official visit since Medvedev took office earlier this year.

Earlier, the Vedomosti newspaper quoted a source within the presidential administration as saying that Russia was not intending to supply Syria with “sensitive” arms, such as the Iskander or S-300 air defense systems. Still, the source said it was entirely possible that Russia would provide supplies of “ordinary” armaments, such as Su-30 and Mig-29 tactical fighter jets, the less powerful Pantsir-S1 and Buk-M1-2 missile systems, and guided anti-tank weapon systems.

Earlier this week, al-Assad admitted that military-technical cooperation was the principal concern of his talks with the Russian leadership. “Weapons purchases are very important,” Mr. Assad told the Kommersant newspaper. “I think we should speed it up.”

Meeting with Medvedev, al-Assad said that Syria was sympathetic to Russia’s actions in the military conflict in South Ossetia. The Syrian president said that problems in the Caucasus region are in many ways similar to problems in the Middle East.

“We understand Russia’s stance, and are sympathetic to the military operation,” al-Assad said. “We consider it a reaction to a provocation by the Georgian side.”

“We want to express our support for the Russian position on the matter of this conflict, and the situation as a whole around Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” al-Assad continued. Syria, he went on, “values the “courageous position” that the Russian leadership took by deciding to pull out troops from Georgia.

With al-Assad’s statements, Syria becomes the third country to back Russia’s military incursion into Georgia, following Cuba and Venezuela.