Aliaksandr Alesin: Belarusian military specialists repair tanks in Yemen

The military advisers who were attacked provided maintenance service for the tanks sold by Belarus.

Military observer Aliaksadnr Alesin spoke to charter97.org about the attack on Belarusian nationals in the Yemeni capital.

“Yemen buys Belarusian arms, to be more precise, Soviet arms from Belarus – T-80 tanks. When Russia was withdrawing its military forces from former East Germany after the Soviet Union collapse, the Belarusian government decided that the Russians must return to Russia with empty hands, so tanks and all equipment were left in Belarus. About 200 T-80 tanks were left in our country. These are excellent tanks, but they have a small drawback. They are equipped with a gas turbine engine that consumes too much fuel. They are offensive tanks that can't be used as accompanying tanks, as the experience of Chechnya shows. The country tries to sell this heritage,” the expert said.

The military observer noted that the organisation for conventional arms control in Europe allowed the Belarusian authorities to sell the tanks.

“They cannot be in operational service. Belarus can only sell them. But there are not many buyers due to the above mentioned features. They are a little out-of-date now. Their engine are inefficient and complex requiring qualified maintenance. Our military organisations promote, sell and upgrade these tanks. Part of them was sold. Yemen was one of the purchases. The seller must provide service maintenance of the tanks. I suppose our specialists could provide maintenance services. They usually work under private contracts. This is my suggestion. Perhaps they have other arms sold by Belarus, but the biggest contract noticed by the media was T-80 tanks,” Aliaksandr Alesin said.

Two Belarusian nationals were attacked in Yemen's capital Sanaa today. One of them was killed, the other was wounded. They were military advisers working for the ministry of defence under a contract, according to later reports.