Ukraine Probes Sales of Missiles to Iran, China
July 7, 2008 - 8:16 PM
By Sergei Blagov
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Moscow (CNSNews.com) - The government of Ukraine has admitted that arms dealers in the country sold 12 long-range cruise missiles to Iran and six to China in 2000-2001.
Ukrainian officials said the missiles were AS-15s, which are designed to carry a nuclear payload, although none of those sold to the two countries had nuclear warheads.
"The results of the investigation have revealed a criminal group that engaged in the illegal sales of armaments," said Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk. "It's an international group, and it comprises citizens from a wide range of countries."
Tarasyuk stressed that the country's new leadership, which assumed power after the "Orange Revolution" late last year, was not responsible for the sales.
"We can only condemn the non-democratic actions that were carried out by the previous authorities," he said while on a visit to neighboring Belarus.
"There is no doubt that the sale of the missiles to Iran and China could only have taken place with the knowledge and co-operation of senior Ukrainian officials," Jane's Intelligence Digest reported.
Ukraine's prosecutor-general told reporters that the Russian businessmen named Oleg Orlov, suspected of masterminding the sale, was arrested last July in Prague on the basis of a Ukrainian warrant.
"This is not about exports of missiles but rather illegal sales which are being investigated by the SBU [security service] which has opened a criminal investigation of the director of the company, Ukraviazakas," the prosecutor-general's office said in a statement.
Prosecutors claim that Ukraviazakas head, Vladimir Yevdokimov, entered a contract with a major Russian arms exporter, Rosvooruzheniye, in order to smuggle the missiles out of Ukraine.
Russian media outlets have been critical of Ukraine's perceived failure to protect sensitive technology developed during the Soviet era. The Izvestia daily on Monday accused Ukraine of selling Russian military secrets.
The AS-15 is a six-meter long, 1.7-ton missile with an estimated range of some 2,000 miles. Like the U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile, it is designed to fly at a low altitude.
The first Soviet model entered service in 1984, operating from Tu-95 and Tu-160 long-range strategic bombers. The Soviet design carried a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine kept a number of Tu-160 aircraft, which were deployed along with their AS-15 missiles. Some of the planes, and nearly 600 missiles, were returned to Russia and the rest were dismantled in 2001 under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Under the treaty, Ukraine also returned all its nuclear warheads.
Grigory Omelchenko, deputy of the Ukrainian parliament and a former SBU officer, said that the treaty required Ukraine to dismantle the missiles or return them to Russia.
But the armed forces had forged reports and held some missiles in stock, he claimed.
Iran does not currently have large strategic bombers such as the Tu-95 or the Tu-160, but even if it were to launch operational AS-15 missiles from Iranian territory, the Middle East - including Israel as well as American forces stationed in the region - would be in range.
In Chinese hands the missiles could reach Japan as well as U.S. forces in East Asia.
Washington said it supported Ukraine's attempts to investigate the sales.
"Both the U.S. government and the Ukrainian government share a common concern and a dedication to acting to prevent or to find out and prevent cases of proliferation," said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
He said the U.S. would work with Ukraine to develop ways to prevent future proliferation
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