In an analysis for the Russian International Affairs Council, Igor Matveev, a former Russian diplomat in Damascus, wrote that the deal "could help recoup the money spent on the military operation in Syria by mining valuable minerals on exclusive terms." Still, Stroytransgaz insists it has no ties to Stroytransgaz Engineering. "STG Engineering is a separate legal entity and is not part of our group of companies. Just a similar abbreviation of the company name," Stroytransgaz spokesperson Natalia Kalinicheva told reporters. Another similarly named company, Stroytransgaz Logistic, won a 50-year contract in 2018 giving it rights to 70 percent of sales revenues from Syria's largest phosphate mines, near the central city of Palmyra. The rest went to the state-owned Syrian General Company of Phosphates and Mineral Resources (GECOPHAM), a subsidiary of the U.S.-sanctioned Syrian Oil Ministry.