Russia is supplying weapons to Damascus under contracts signed since the conflict in Syria began in 2011, as well as under earlier deals, President Bashar al-Assad said.
Assad's comments, in an interview published by Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Monday, appeared to contradict Moscow's line that any Russian arms supplies to Damascus were agreed before the conflict began.
"There are contracts that had been sealed before the crisis started and were carried out during the crisis. There are other agreements on arms supplies and cooperation that were signed during the crisis and are being carried out now," Assad said.
"They went through some changes to take into account the type of fighting the Syrian army carries out against the terrorists," he said in the full text of the interviews, excerpts of which were published last week.
Assad gave no details of the weapons being supplied by Russia, the world's second-biggest arms exporter, since the start of the conflict which has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.
Asked about the interview, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not say whether Moscow was supplying arms to Damascus.
"In fact, Moscow has always highlighted that there have been and are no embargoes on military cooperation. There are no legal limitations no us," he told reporters.
Russia's Defense Ministry, contacted by telephone, declined immediate comment.
Russia is a longstanding ally of Assad and is hosting meetings in Moscow on April 6-9 involving some of the more moderate Syrian opposition representatives and Damascus envoys.
In an another interview with a US television, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that Islamic State, which has seized swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq, has been gaining recruits since the start of US-led air strikes against the militant group.
Asked how much benefit he was getting from the strikes in Syria that began last September, Assad told CBS' "60 Minutes: "Sometimes you could have local benefit but in general if you want to talk in terms of ISIS, actually ISIS has expanded since the beginning of the strikes."
Assad, who has been fighting Islamist and other rebels since 2011, said in the interview aired on Sunday there were some estimates that Islamic State was attracting 1,000 recruits a month in Syria.
"And Iraq - they are expanding in - in Libya and - many other - al Qaeda affiliate organizations have announced their allegiance to ISIS. So that's the situation," Assad said, using another acronym for the militant group.
Washington is seeking a negotiated settlement to Syria's civil war that excludes Assad, but has made clear its top priority in Syria is the fight against Islamic State militants.
Asked under what circumstances he would leave power, Assad said: "When I don't have the public support. When I don't represent the Syrian interests, and values."
In reply to a question about how he determined what support he had among Syrians, he said: "I don't determine. I sense. I feel. I'm in contact with them."
REUTERS