http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=32119&cid=58&p=05.09.2008
Voice of Russia
September 5, 2008
ARMS SCANDAL IN UKRAINE GATHERS STRENGTH
A scandal on government-inspired illegal arm supplies
to Georgia gathers strength in Ukraine.
The Supreme Rada’s investigative commission, headed by
Valery Konovalov, has already revealed facts on
supplying arms worth a whopping 200 million dollars to
the Saakashvili regime – money that had never reached
Ukraine’s state coffers.
Elaborating on that is our observer Alexander Vatutin:
The Ukrainian authorities appeared to have done their
best to render full-fledged aid to their staunch
Caucasian ally – a fact that came to light following
the end of the hostilities in the Georgia-South
Ossetia conflict zone.
In the course of a military operation against Georgian
commandos, the Russian military collected imposing war
trophies, including Ukrainian-made T-72 combat tanks,
small-arms weapon and ammunition, which were used
against Tskhinvali’s civilians.
This is, however, only the tip of the iceberg.
Previously, there were reports about a Russian TU-22
strategic bomber being shot down by Georgian air
defense systems.
But it is clear that the bomber could hardly be
demolished by mothballed air defenses the Georgian
military was earlier equipped with.
To all appearances, the Russian high-altitude bomber
was eliminated by the most advanced S-200 air defense
systems, which might well be supplied to the
Saakasvili regime by none other than Ukraine.
So it is safe to assume that the Yushchenko
administration added significantly to building up
Georgia’s offensive military muscles – a
corruption-leaning move that patently rode roughshod
over Ukraine’s existing legislation.
By the way, a similar sandal recently hit
Bosnia-Herzegovina, where opposition leaders had
pointed a finger at PM Nicola Spiric, who they claimed
might well damage ties with the republic’s close ally
Russia by moving to supply arms to Georgia.
The Russian side has given solid evidence that during
the South Ossetian conflict, the Georgian military
used the state-of-the-art military hardware made not
only in Ukraine but in many other nations from around
the globe as well.
The Military Prosecutor-General, Sergei Fridinsky,
says that Russian peacekeepers seized plenty of
military hardware and small-arms weapons produced by
the United States, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria,
Romania and Israel, whose drones, by the way, were
widely used by the Georgian air forces.
In a recent interview with the Voice of Russia, a
Moscow-based noted military expert lamented the fact
that so far there had been no international law which
could bar a nation from supplying arms to the conflict
areas. Alexander Pikayev added that in this sense,
each country is keen to stick to its own policy
principles.
Regrettably, an international document to prevent a
nation from supplying arms to the conflict zones has
not seen the daylight yet, Alexander Pikayev
complains.
At the same time, he adds, there are currently several
EU accords that say a firm no to EU member states'
involvement in the matter. That means that by
supplying arms to Georgia, EU members violated their
own agreements, Alexander Pikayev contends.
It remains to be added that the current scandal seems
to be the first link in the chain of exposures that
will certainly shed enough light on who moved to
sponsor Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
