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gazeta.ru
October 29, 2001
Afghan War Profitable for Russian Arms Industry
By Artyom Vernidoub
Defence Ministry representatives revealed on Saturday that military aid worth some $45 million is to be rendered to the government of the ousted president of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani and his anti-Taliban Northern Alliance fighters by the end of the year. Russia is sending 40 T-55 tanks and several dozen armoured vehicles to the Northern Alliance. Some sources claim that Russia will receive generous payment for the military aid from the government of Great Britain or the US.
Russian military hardware supplies began to flow into Afghanistan at the end of September. CNN reported last week, that 40 T-55 tanks and approximately 100 armoured vehicles have already been sent to Afghanistan.
The Washington Times has reported, referring to sources in the US intelligence, that the Northern Alliance will receive 40 Russian tanks, but said the number of armoured vehicles to be sent is not 100 but 80. Those are mostly battle infantry vehicles BMP-1 and BMP-2 (on caterpillar tracks) and several BTR-60 armoured personnel carriers.
The Russian Defence Ministry was quick to respond to the western media reports. Defence officials on Saturday confirmed, "Russia is supplying military equipment to the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan within the framework of the international military-technical cooperation".
An unnamed Defence Ministry official quoted by the RIA Novosti agency cautiously implied that western media reports could be trusted, but refused to specify the quantity and types of hardware being sent to Afghanistan.
"By the end of the year, the government recognized by the international community of (the ousted Afghan President Burhanuddin) Rabbani will have received 40 T-55 tanks, 80 BMP infantry battle vehicles and several dozen BTR armoured personnel carriers," the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, quoting a source in the Defence Ministry.
On September 24 Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov admitted that Russia had been supplying tanks and other kinds of military hardware to the Northern Alliance fighters long before the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11th. "It is no secret to anyone that Russia has long since been rendering such aid," the minister said.
Speaking at the Federation Council session on October 10 Sergei Ivanov emphasized that Afghani fighters needed simple, very reliable and tested equipment: T-55 tanks, ammunition and submachine guns. "The Northern Alliance wants old Soviet-era military hardware because they are familiar with it having used it for decades," Ivanov said.
"Afghans who have been fighting for the last 20 years, including the Northern Alliance fighters, know the old military equipment better than many servicemen in the Russian armed forces," Ivanov said on another occasion this month.
The arms deal is estimated to be worth between $40-70 million. However, it remains unclear who exactly will pay Russia for delivering the military equipment to the Northern Alliance.
Some Russian defence experts claim that Russian technical specialists have already been sent to Afghanistan along with armoured vehicles.
For instance, the independent Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer claims that vehicles sent by Russia to the fighters of the Northern Alliance are being operated by Russian crews. "A number of Russian technical experts are already in northern Afghanistan helping the rebels," Pavel Felgenhauer said in a television interview, referring to an unnamed military source.
Felgenhauer is convinced that there are not enough qualified tank commanders and drivers within the Northern Alliance. "It is impossible to quickly teach peasants to operate those vehicles and besides, there is always a risk that Russian tanks may pass into the possession of the Taliban," Felgenhauer claims.
"Therefore," claims Felgenhauer, "the military servicemen of Russia's 201st motorized rifle division, deployed in Tajikistan, have already entered Afghanistan."
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov more than once has categorically stated that no Russian soldier will be deployed to Afghanistan as an instructor, let alone enter into combat.
Alexander Roubtsov the Deputy commander of the 201st motorised rifle division, which has been guarding Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan for several years, told Gazeta.Ru: "None of our officers have gone anywhere".
Another military expert Ruslan Pukhov, the director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, told Gazeta.Ru that he does not believe it is possible that Russian troops would enter into combat in Afghanistan.
"I think, that what the expert Felgenhauer is saying is sheer nonsense. Afghani tank men, pilots and missile specialists received excellent training in the Soviet Union. And now they are passing on their experience and knowledge to the new generation. Especially since it is even easier to operate a tank, than a Zaporozhets (the cheapest and most basic automobile manufactured in the Soviet Union--Gazeta.Ru)," says Roubtsov.
"Indeed, in Nigeria and Angola fighter jets are operated not by locals, but by military pilots from Russia and other republics of the former USSR, but in Afghanistan there is simply no need for them (Russian pilots)," Ruslan Pukhov told Gazeta.Ru.
Pukhov points out that the Russian language can still be heard within the ranks of the Northern Alliance. "The military language of fighters of the Northern Alliance is still Russian: 'stoi!' (stop!), strelyai (shoot!) and so on. Just imagine, commands to pilots given in pashto (Afghan language)."
As for who is paying for the Russian military supplies to the Northern Alliance, to all appearances Russia is not only getting rid of outdated military equipment thus clearing its ammunition depots, but is also making a handsome profit in the process.
On October 27 Defence Ministry officials admitted that the military aid to the Northern Alliance would total "some 45 billion (US dollars)".
"I do not rule out," Ruslan Pukhov told Gazeta.Ru, "that fully or partially those supplies are being paid for by either the USA or Great Britain."
Gazeta.Ru has learnt from another military expert, who asked not to be named, that the UK government has already paid for the delivery of 40 Russian tanks and 80 other armoured vehicles to the Northern Alliance. The source said that the agreement was reached during the meeting between Andrei Belyaninov, the chief of Rosoboronexport - Russia's largest exporter of military equipment, and the British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon, in Moscow at the beginning of October.
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