Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had voiced fears that the anti-aircraft missiles being sold by Russia to Syria could find their way into the hands of "terrorist organisations".

"With respect to the sale which was signed with Syria and which will be finalized, it involves short-range air defense systems," Putin said in an interview with Israeli television aired by Russian networks a few days before his visit to Israel.

"These systems can destroy air targets at close range. They are systems that are mounted on vehicles and they cannot be secretly passed on to terrorist organizations," he added without giving details on the sale.

Putin said that Russian military officials would be able to carry out checks at the site where the missiles will be stockpiled and set up.

"This will of course complicate low-flying flights over the residence of the Syrian president, but I'm not sure that such flights would be a good idea if we all, including in the interest of the Israeli people, want to create an atmosphere favorable to the pursuit of the peace process."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was furious in August 2003 when Israeli warplanes flew over his presidential palace in Damascus.

Putin said Russia was acting responsibly as the sale was not changing the "balance of forces in the region".

Russia "had refused in the past to ship much more serious missiles, including to Syria, which could have been of concern to Israel."

"We gave up on those sales so as not to change the fragile balance of power in the region," he said.

Sharon on Thursday reiterated that he regarded the sale of the air defence missile system as a "threat to the security of Israel" but said that the Jewish state could not stop Moscow trying to sell arms to other countries.

The Russian defense ministry has said the system that Moscow plans to sell to Syria could not be stripped down for "man-portable" shoulder-launch use.

Both Israel and the United States have expressed disquiet about the sale, fearing that they could end up in the hands of Lebanon's Damascus-backed Hezbollah Shiite militia.

The row over the missile system threatens to overshadow a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Israel Wednesday and Thursday, the first of a Moscow leader.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.