The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has arrived in Moscow for a three-day visit. It is his first trip abroad since his re-election as president 10 days ago by a decisive margin.

 

He is due to meet his counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, and sign agreements including a loan for the purchase and repair of Russian military equipment.

 

Sri Lankasees Russiaas one of its true friends. Like this country’s other close allies, including another UN Security Council member, China,Moscow last year helped to quash a possible motion of censure at the UN Human Rights Council over Sri Lanka’s conduct of its war.

 

For months a poster of thanks from the Sri Lankan government hung outside the Russian embassy here.

 

Russia’s state-run news agency, RIA Novosti, says that during President Rajapaksa’s visit the two sides will sign an agreement on a 300-million-dollar loan to the island country to buy arms and dual-purpose products.

 

The two countries are also linked by tea: Russia, a vast consumer of the drink, is one of Sri Lanka’s biggest tea buyers.

 

Informed sources in Colombosay the arms deal will cover not only purchases but also extensive repairs to Russian military equipment already owned by Sri Lanka.

 

The country remains highly militarised, and on Friday parliament extended by another month a long-running state of emergency which gives the authorities sweeping powers to detain people.

 

The prime minister once more argued that the emergency was needed to prevent any resurgence of the Tamil Tigers.

 

But its regulations are also now being used for the detention of opposition supporters whom the government says were involved in trying to kill the president after the election. The opposition denies such a plot. – (BBC)