Al-Monitor | Igor A. Matveev: When Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov paid a visit recently to Damascus to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the trip fueled speculation about Russia's future trade role in Syria and whether it might challenge Iran�s dominance.

Borisov is also co-chair of the Russian-Syrian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.

The April 20 visit also spurred more talk about a recent agreement under which Russia is to lease Syria's Tartus port for 49 years. Facing its worst fuel crisis since 2011 as a result of US sanctions, Damascus is looking to diversify oil supplies previously provided by Tehran � and now currently put on hold � with fresh proposals from Russia. Such plans are ambitious given the current status of Russian-Syrian trade.

According to the latest data collected by the Russian Foreign Trade website, based on information from the Federal Customs Service of Russia, in 2018 Russia�s trade with Syria totaled $401.5 million � a 42% rise from 2017. This was far behind Iran (which said in April 2017 that its annual trade with Syria had surpassed $1 billion), Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and China.

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