SPEAKER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT ON ILLEGAL SALE OF X-55 MISSILES TO IRAN AND CHINA
RIA Novosti
KIEV, March 23 (RIA Novosti) - Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament Vladimir Litvin calls illegal sale of X-55 missiles "an attempt to tarnish the image of Ukraine." He spoke on "direct line" with readers of the Ukrainian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"I met today with director of Yuzhmash and he told me that the rumors of the sale are complete nonsense because without planes capable of carrying these missiles they are totally useless." According to the speaker, such missiles can be carried only on board Tu-160 bombers, and those who allegedly purchased them should have been aware of it."
Litvin believes that the illegal deal "is simply another loud scandal that might damage the image of Ukraine." "God forbid the rumors will be confirmed! It is another shady affair," the speaker exclaimed.
The scandal around the alleged sales of several missiles by Ukraine to Iran and China in 1999-2001 broke out after former Ukrainian Security Council official and former head of the parliamentary committee on the fight against corruption Grigory Omelchinko made an announcement about the prevention of an attempt to sell additional 14 X-55 missiles abroad.
The X-55 missile (according to US classification - AS-15 Kent) is a strategic cruise missile developed in the 1970s and adopted by the Russian Air Force in 1983. Carriers of X-55 air-to-surface missiles are strategic bombers Tu-95MC and Tu-160.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, part of the arsenal of these missiles remained on the territory of Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
