FSMTC of Russia’s announcement

Recently, John Kirby, Pentagon official representative, has announced the regular military assistance to Ukraine, in which framework the transfer of 11 Mi-17 helicopters is planned.

FSMTC of Russia expresses the protest against any illegal transfer of the Russian (Soviet) origin arms and military equipment to Ukraine or other countries, including the helicopters supplied by JSC «Rosoboronexport» within the framework of the major contract concluded with Pentagon in 2011.

This contract and the relevant End User Certificates (in evidence, one of the documents is attached) stipulate that these helicopters are earmarked for transfer by the American Party to the Armed Forces of Afghanistan and are not subject to re-export of transfer to any third country, except for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, without the consent of the Russian Federation.

The voluntaristic decision of the USA to supply the mentioned «Afghan» helicopters to Ukraine crudely violates the international law basics and the provisions of the Russian-American contractual documents.

The recognition by Pentagon officials of the fact that the USA is not able to supervise the further transfer of the arms supplied by the Americans to Ukraine, which means that the uncontrolled transfer of the arms to the third party is not guaranteed, only aggravates the increased terrorist threat in the world.

FSMTC of Russia officially announces that the fact of supplying by the American Party of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the mentioned Russian origin helicopters will be illegal.