Moldovan-Armenian arms deal causes scandal

A new scandal occurred in Chisinau around the arms deal with Moldova. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, secretary of Moldova’s Supreme Security Council Yuriy Rikichinsky was invited to the parliament on Tuesday to make comment on the letter sent to acting president Marian Lupu.

Rikichinsky was asked to assist the fulfillment of arms deals. The question was about the sale of 20-ton missile launchers and appropriate ammunitions to Armenia.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta said that 40-ton ammunitions have been already delivered to the purchaser in September and this event caused protest in Azerbaijan and scandal in Latvia. Commander of the Moldovan National Army, Chief of General Staff, General Yuriy Dominik, who acknowledged that the arm deal was fulfilled on order from above, was dismissed. And the country’s leadership denied its awareness of this deal.

Moldovan Defense Ministry said they sold old, unusable ammunitions to Armenia. Later it became clear that usable ammunitions were shipped to the transport planes in Merkuleshti airdrome. There were Cobra 9B862, 9B863 control missile systems, Concurs-M anti-tank missiles, Fagot, Concurs, Shturm-S, Metis missiles among the arms sold to Armenia. The ammunitions’ market price is $5 million. Moldovan defense minister Vitaly Marinuta acknowledged during the parliamentary hearing that his country sold arms and military hardware to Armenia in amount of $3.3 million.

The arms deal was suspended. On February 27, MP from Communist faction Alexander Petkov demanded explanation from the Supreme Security Council’s secretary. Rikichinsky refused to give explanation and the lawmakers accused him of acting on order of the president reminding that he was the chief of the president’s security guard.

Expert of Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces Viorel Cibotaru said the scandal rose because Moldovan parliament was not informed about the arms deal with Armenia and Chisinau didn’t negotiate this issue with Baku. “The route of arms shipment caused misunderstanding with Latvia, but other issues were within the framework of international law. Moldova has a right for arms deal, including the sale arms shown in the list”.


/APA/