Arms dealers accused of selling missiles to Iran
Ukrainian weapons dealers smuggled cruise missiles to Iran and to China, prosecutors said today.
The Prosecutor General’s office in Kiev said that 18 Kh55 nuclear-capable cruise missiles were smuggled out of Ukraine and sold illegally to Iran and China.
“The proceedings against persons implicated have been forwarded to the Kiev Court of Appeals and are being heard behind closed doors,” a statement said.
Leonid Kuchma was Ukraine’s president when the alleged smuggling took place four years ago.
Last month The AP reported that a Ukrainian government probe into lucrative illicit weapons sales by officials loyal to Kuchma had led to secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers accused of selling nuclear-capable missiles to Iran and China.
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 Defence Ministry", according to a letter written by an MP to current President Vladimir Yushchenko.
The letter did not say what happened to the eight other missiles. The Kh-55, known in the West as the AS-15, is designed to carry a nuclear warhead with a 200-kiloton yield.
