Russia will not sign any new weapons contracts with Syria until the situation there improves, a Russian military official says.

A senior Russian official says that Moscow will not sign new weapons contracts with Syria until the situation there calms down.

Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy chief of the Russian military and technical cooperation agency, told Russian news agencies on the sidelines of the Farnborough airshow south-west of London that Russia will continue, however, with previously agreed exports.

He said that so far Russia has been providing Syria’s army with spare parts and assistance in repairs of the weapons supplied earlier.

To give yourself an idea of what the heavy weaponry in Syria looks like, watch this video. In related news, a Syrian opposition group now says the death toll in the region has reached 17,000 — up from an earlier count of 14,000.