| A weapons scandal erupted in Ukraine The case of the illegal sale of Ukrainian strategic weapons to China and Iran, which has been pending in court behind closed doors for seven months, recently received wide international resonance. This is another blow to Leonid Kuchma - since the sales occurred during his presidency.
Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun, in an interview with the British Financial Times, admitted that in 2001 Ukraine exported twelve nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and six to China. That is, official Kyiv, and not private companies, as the investigation previously proved, violated the international treaty on the non-proliferation of missile technologies. The flight range of the X-55 missiles (also known as AS-15) is 3 thousand km, and thus Japan and Israel were in the potential destruction zone.
True, the Prosecutor General's Office immediately refuted the Financial Times' information, saying that this was not about government exports, but about missile smuggling. It was on the fact of smuggling that the SBU opened a criminal case. So far, the only accused is a citizen of Ukraine, director of the Ukraviazakaz enterprise Vladimir Evdokimov. His lawyer Bogdan Ferenc argues that the missiles did not pose a danger because they were all stripped of nuclear warheads, which were sent to Russia in the early 90s, and the missiles themselves were at least ten years past their warranty period. But such missiles could be of interest to Tehran and Beijing for their own development as examples of modern strategic weapons.
Known for scandalous revelations, Rada deputy Grigory Omelchenko previously stated that the deal was supervised by the state company Ukrspetsexport, members of the army command staff and the country's top leadership. The investigation found that the basis for the sale was a falsified contract for the supply of missiles to Russia. The document allegedly bears the seal of the Russian state-owned company Rosvooruzheniye, although the name and signature of the person responsible is missing, reports the Ukrainian online publication Obozrevatel. But illegally sold missiles have been in service with the Russian army since the early 80s, and Moscow would never sanction a scam with its strategic weapons. “A contract of this level could not be executed without the sanction of high-ranking Ukrainian officials. It is necessary to conduct the most thorough investigation,” Georgy Manchulenko, secretary of the Rada Committee on Defense and National Security, told a Vremya Novostey correspondent.
The United States is “closely monitoring” the investigation into missile sales to China and Iran, State Department spokesman Adam Erely said. American media, citing high-ranking officials in NATO, reported that Kyiv itself must determine who initiated the supplies - former President Leonid Kuchma, ex-Minister of Defense, former Prime Minister or other persons. Svetlana STEPANENKO, Kyiv |
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