13 September 2008, 13:44
Joint Staff of Russian Armed Forces: Ukraine was leader in arms deliveries to Georgia
Prior to events in South Ossetia in August, Ukraine was the leading supplier of weapons to Georgia; it was stated by Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.
We remind you that the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office of Russia has established facts of use by the Georgian party in South Ossetia of armaments made in the USA, Czechia and Ukraine.
Mr Nogovitsyn has also emphasized that on the eve of aggression against South Ossetia, the military budget of Georgia had essentially increased. "Actually, before the invasion, it was brought up to one billion dollars," the RIA "Novosti" quotes the General as saying.
Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Chairman of the Romanian Party "Romyniya Mare" (Great Rumania), plans to launch parliamentary investigation on Romania's arms deliveries to Georgia. It became known yesterday, on September 12.
Being a member of the Senate Defence Commission, Mr Tudor has accused the Minister of Defence of the country of "disinformation" of MPs as to the issue and plant to run fact-finding mission on why Rumania-made armaments had been exported to Georgia, the ITAR-TASS reports.
We remind you that earlier Theodore Meleshkanu, Rumanian Minister of Defence, had recognized that Georgia bought weapons from Rumania. The Minister had stated that sales of weapons to Georgia had been made on legal bases, since the country is not under any embargo, and especially noted that no exports were made during open collisions, therefore, it was impossible to say that Rumania had preferred any of the parties.
The Rumanian Defence Minister then said also that arms deliveries could be made by private companies or mediators on the basis of state licenses.
However, the leader of the "Romyniya Mare" Party believes that broad-scale deliveries of arms to the Caucasus from Romania had been made under direct instructions from the USA.
