Weapons Dealers Said to Smuggle Missiles

Friday March 18, 2005 1:16 PM


KIEV, Ukraine (AP)- Ukrainian weapons dealers smuggled 18 nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China during former President Leonid Kuchma's administration, prosecutors said Friday.

The KH55 cruise missiles were smuggled out of Ukraine four years ago, the Prosecutor General's office said in a statement. Prosecutors said the missiles, which have a range of 1,860 miles, were sold illegally and were not exported by Ukrainian enterprises.

The Associated Press reported last month that a government probe into lucrative illicit weapons sales by officials loyal to Kuchma has led to secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers.

Six missiles purportedly ended up in Iran and another six allegedly went to China, although export documents known as end-user certificates recorded the final recipient of some 20 Kh-55 missiles as ``Russia's Defense Ministry,'' according to a letter written by a lawmaker to current President Vladimir Yushchenko.
more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4875155,00.html

Ukraine says it exported missiles to China and Iran
March 18, 2005, 11:45


Ukraine has acknowledged exporting 12 cruise missiles to Iran and six to China amid mounting pressure from other countries to explain how the sales occurred, the Financial Times reported today.

The newspaper quoted Svyatoslav Piskun, Ukraine's prosecutor-general, as saying 18 X-55 cruise missiles, also known as Kh-55s or AS-15s, were exported in 2001, although none was exported with the nuclear warheads they were designed to carry. The X-55 has a range of 3000km, enough to put Japan within striking range of the Asian continent or to reach Israel from Iran, said the newspaper.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor-general's office in Kiev offered no comment on the report, but said: "A meeting is now going on. Please wait two or three hours." The report appeared less than three months after Ukrainians elected the western-leaning Viktor Yushchenkoa as the new president of the former Soviet republic.

US concerned
The US has long expressed concern that parts of the former Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal could be sold or smuggled to countries that it regards as a potential danger.

http://www.sabcnews.com/world/europe/0,2172,100302,00.html

:puke:

I seem to recal that some "weak on defense" Democrats have been banging this drum for a while.

Anyone can go in and buy a nuclear-capable missile with no background check, doncha know?

:dunce:

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Friday cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads had been "smuggled" out of the country to Iran (news - web sites), but denied a report they had been exported with official sanction.
...
The X-55 has a range of some 1,800 miles. Launched from Iran, it could reach Israel.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=721&e=6&u=/nm/20050318/ts_nm/nuclear_ukraine_dc


The war drums continue. June is it?

Cruise missile row rocks Ukraine

Ukraine still has large ex-Soviet weapons stocks
Ukrainian arms dealers smuggled 18 nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China in 1999-2001, Ukraine's prosecutor-general has said.
The Soviet-era Kh-55 missiles - also known as X-55s - have a maximum range of 2,500km (1,550 miles). They are launched by long-range bombers.

Official Ukrainian state bodies were not involved in the sales, the prosecutor-general's office said.

It added that the missiles were not exported with nuclear warheads.

snip

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4361505.stm

Ukrainian prosecutor: Weapons dealers sold nuclear-capable missiles to Iran, China


posted by: Dan  Werner (Web producer)     

Created: 3/18/2005 6:16 AM MST - Updated: 3/18/2005 8:24 AM MST



KIEV, Ukraine (AP)- Ukrainian weapons dealers smuggled 18 nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China during former President Leonid Kuchma's administration, prosecutors said Friday.

The KH55 cruise missiles were smuggled out of Ukraine four years ago, the Prosecutor General's office said in a statement. Prosecutors said the missiles, which have a range of 1,860 miles, were sold illegally and were not exported by Ukrainian enterprises.

The Associated Press reported last month that a government probe into lucrative illicit weapons sales by officials loyal to Kuchma has led to secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers.

Six missiles purportedly ended up in Iran and another six allegedly went to China, although export documents known as end-user certificates recorded the final recipient of some 20 Kh-55 missiles as "Russia's Defense Ministry," according to a letter written by a lawmaker to current President Vladimir Yushchenko.

http://9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=b5cec186-0abe-421a-01f0-69fc41f400b8&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

He's past the point of being able to blame everything on Clinton. This happened under his watch. Why to go idiot King.

Jay

I think they all got promotions, and half of them are cabinet ministers in the BFEE now. These Ukrainians will get similar rewards, I guess.

China has run them through her duplicator factory and now there will be many.

180