.Pentagon Defends Buying From Russia Trader Aiding Assad
The Pentagon must pay Russia’s state- run arms trader to provide helicopters for Afghanistan’s air force even though the company also been has supplying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with weapons to kill his own people, according to the Defense Department’s top policy official.
The U.S. Army has taken delivery of nine Russian-made MI-17 helicopters for the Afghans from Rosoboronexport under a $375 million contract issued in May 2011, with six more awaiting shipment and another six to be delivered by May 31, Acting Undersecretary for Policy James Miller said in a previously undisclosed March 30 letter to lawmakers. The U.S. has an option to buy an additional 12 Russian helicopters for the Afghans, who have been flying them for 30 years.
“I share your concern that Rosoboronexport continues to supply weapons and ammunition to the Assad regime and acknowledge there is evidence that some of these arms are being used by Syrian forces against Syria’s civilian population,” Miller wrote Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, who’s led opposition to the contract in Congress.
The U.S. barred deals with Rosoboronexport from 2006 to 2010, citing its arms sales to nations including Iran and Syria as violating efforts to curb proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In his letter to Cornyn, Miller sought to reconcile the Pentagon’s purchases from the Russian government arms company with the Obama administration’s pleas for nations and companies to stop doing business with Assad. The United Nation estimates that his regime has killed more than 9,000 people since the uprisings began, two months before the Pentagon contracted for the Russian-made helicopters.
Continued Objections
While the U.S. is continuing “to register our objections with Russia at all levels and every opportunity” on selling arms to Assad, Miller said, “the MI-17 acquisition effort is critical to building the capacity of Afghanistan security forces and supports the president’s continuing efforts to build improved relations with Russia.”
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan concluded that the MI-17, one of the region’s most widely used helicopters, is needed “after considering its proven operational capabilities in the extreme environments of Afghanistan,” Miller said in the letter.
The medium-lift chopper, which also is used for attack missions, isn’t as technically complex as other helicopters, “making it easier for” the Afghanistan Air Force to maintain and operate, Miller wrote.
“This in no way excuses Rosoboronexport of its activities with Syria, but our acquisition of these helicopters is a key part of our ongoing strategy to hand over security of Afghanistan to the Afghan people,” Miller wrote.
Rosoboronexport spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko had no comment when reached by telephone in Moscow.
Long Experience
Afghan pilots have been flying the MI-17 since the early 1980s because of its ability to operate in the country’s severe environments and fly at high altitudes in high temperatures with heavy loads.
The choppers the Pentagon is purchasing for Afghanistan include full Western avionics, navigation, communications and situation awareness capability. Each complete helicopter package costs $16.4 million, according to Army data.
Cornyn was one of 17 senators, including Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, who wrote Defense Secretary Leon Panetta March 12 criticizing the helicopter purchases.
U.S. taxpayers “should not be put in the position where they are indirectly subsidizing the mass murder of Syrian civilians,” they said.
‘Right Side of History’
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged in August that nations doing business with Syria cut off trade and arms sales to Assad’s regime and “get on the right side of history.”
Tara Rigler, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that Miller’s letter is the most current comment on the subject.
The helicopter deal is being used by human-rights advocacy groups that are pressing for Russia to halt arms sales to Syria.
“I urge you to stop the arms flow to Syria by canceling the U.S. contract with Rosoboronexport -- one of Syria’s most significant enablers of mass atrocity,” the New York-based group Human Rights First said in an online petition addressed to Panetta. The group said MI-17s could be purchased through brokers other than Rosoboronexport.
Russia stood to lose as much as $3.8 billion in revenue if it halted arms sales to Syria, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in August, citing estimates by the Center for Analysis of Strategies & Technologies in Moscow.
Sole Exporter
Rosoboronexport, based in Moscow, accounted for 85 percent of Russia’s arms exports as of 2010, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a research group based in Alexandria, Virginia. It is the sole Russian company controlling exports of the MI-17, according to Miller.
The governments of Iraq and Pakistan also have asked the U.S. to supply them with MI-17s for counterterrorism missions, according to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
Violence persists in Syria after the UN sent a team of cease-fire monitors to the country and pledged to expand their numbers. The observers were intended to calm the fighting so that talks could begin on implementing a peace plan drafted by United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan.
Syrian forces have used sniper fire and heavy weapons against civilians as part of their effort to crush the revolt against Assad.
Bloomberg
The U.S. Army has taken delivery of nine Russian-made MI-17 helicopters for the Afghans from Rosoboronexport under a $375 million contract issued in May 2011, with six more awaiting shipment and another six to be delivered by May 31, Acting Undersecretary for Policy James Miller said in a previously undisclosed March 30 letter to lawmakers. The U.S. has an option to buy an additional 12 Russian helicopters for the Afghans, who have been flying them for 30 years.
“I share your concern that Rosoboronexport continues to supply weapons and ammunition to the Assad regime and acknowledge there is evidence that some of these arms are being used by Syrian forces against Syria’s civilian population,” Miller wrote Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, who’s led opposition to the contract in Congress.
The U.S. barred deals with Rosoboronexport from 2006 to 2010, citing its arms sales to nations including Iran and Syria as violating efforts to curb proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In his letter to Cornyn, Miller sought to reconcile the Pentagon’s purchases from the Russian government arms company with the Obama administration’s pleas for nations and companies to stop doing business with Assad. The United Nation estimates that his regime has killed more than 9,000 people since the uprisings began, two months before the Pentagon contracted for the Russian-made helicopters.
Continued Objections
While the U.S. is continuing “to register our objections with Russia at all levels and every opportunity” on selling arms to Assad, Miller said, “the MI-17 acquisition effort is critical to building the capacity of Afghanistan security forces and supports the president’s continuing efforts to build improved relations with Russia.”
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan concluded that the MI-17, one of the region’s most widely used helicopters, is needed “after considering its proven operational capabilities in the extreme environments of Afghanistan,” Miller said in the letter.
The medium-lift chopper, which also is used for attack missions, isn’t as technically complex as other helicopters, “making it easier for” the Afghanistan Air Force to maintain and operate, Miller wrote.
“This in no way excuses Rosoboronexport of its activities with Syria, but our acquisition of these helicopters is a key part of our ongoing strategy to hand over security of Afghanistan to the Afghan people,” Miller wrote.
Rosoboronexport spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko had no comment when reached by telephone in Moscow.
Long Experience
Afghan pilots have been flying the MI-17 since the early 1980s because of its ability to operate in the country’s severe environments and fly at high altitudes in high temperatures with heavy loads.
The choppers the Pentagon is purchasing for Afghanistan include full Western avionics, navigation, communications and situation awareness capability. Each complete helicopter package costs $16.4 million, according to Army data.
Cornyn was one of 17 senators, including Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, who wrote Defense Secretary Leon Panetta March 12 criticizing the helicopter purchases.
U.S. taxpayers “should not be put in the position where they are indirectly subsidizing the mass murder of Syrian civilians,” they said.
‘Right Side of History’
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged in August that nations doing business with Syria cut off trade and arms sales to Assad’s regime and “get on the right side of history.”
Tara Rigler, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that Miller’s letter is the most current comment on the subject.
The helicopter deal is being used by human-rights advocacy groups that are pressing for Russia to halt arms sales to Syria.
“I urge you to stop the arms flow to Syria by canceling the U.S. contract with Rosoboronexport -- one of Syria’s most significant enablers of mass atrocity,” the New York-based group Human Rights First said in an online petition addressed to Panetta. The group said MI-17s could be purchased through brokers other than Rosoboronexport.
Russia stood to lose as much as $3.8 billion in revenue if it halted arms sales to Syria, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported in August, citing estimates by the Center for Analysis of Strategies & Technologies in Moscow.
Sole Exporter
Rosoboronexport, based in Moscow, accounted for 85 percent of Russia’s arms exports as of 2010, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a research group based in Alexandria, Virginia. It is the sole Russian company controlling exports of the MI-17, according to Miller.
The governments of Iraq and Pakistan also have asked the U.S. to supply them with MI-17s for counterterrorism missions, according to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
Violence persists in Syria after the UN sent a team of cease-fire monitors to the country and pledged to expand their numbers. The observers were intended to calm the fighting so that talks could begin on implementing a peace plan drafted by United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan.
Syrian forces have used sniper fire and heavy weapons against civilians as part of their effort to crush the revolt against Assad.
Bloomberg
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