“Kolchugas” Lead Belarusians to Baghdad? :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarusian delegation came to Iraq right at the moment when the American inspectors arrived in Kiev in order to check into the alleged shipment by Ukraine of the “Kolchuga” complexes to Iraq. As you know, last week the Ukrainian deputy Julia Timoshenko said that ahead of the US experts’ coming to Kiev, Belarus transported her own “Kolchugas” there. Official Minsk categorically refutes this information.

The scandal started after the security service agent from Kuchma’s close encirclement Melnichenko made public the audio records, which prove that Kuchma himself sanctioned the sales of “Kolchugas” to Iraq. (These rocket launchers are capable of shooting down US and British invisible jets, patrolling the no-fly zone over Iraq). In their turn, the USA determined not to earmark to Ukraine a $40mln credit.
This week Kiev was visited by a group of American pundits, who will clarify the issue on the spot. The authorities say that they never shipped weaponry to Iraq and claim readiness to show their launchers to the Americans.
However, Timoshenko says that the Ukrainians simply borrowed “Kolchugas” from Belarus for a while. The transportation, according to her, took place last week.
Belarusian officials deny it, of course. The Defense Ministry reports that this piece of weaponry is quite complex and it is next to impossible to dismantle them and pass over to Ukraine within a week’s time.
At the same time media reported that a high-ranking delegation from Belarus set off en route to Iraq. Their visit coincided in time with the arrival of US experts to Ukraine. One of the issues the sides may discuss there could be the military cooperation.