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Ukraine arms Cuba and Venezuela
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| 16 September 2004 |
Ukraine's arms exports last year stood at US$530-550m, an increase on the year before when they were officially recorded at $440m. JID's regional analyst looks at the implications of Kiev's weapons policy.
Ukrainian experts analysing this highly secretive sector of Ukraine's foreign trade believe that the volume of military exports could rise to an annual maximum of $700m. Of course, these figures do not include the large volume of unofficial trade in weapons. Since 1992, Ukrainian arms have ended up in many conflict zones around the world, including Peru, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
This year's figures for military exports will be heavily boosted by the establishment of two new markets namely Cuba and Venezuela. Sources involved in preparing the contracts have informed JID that the first shipments of military equipment to Cuba and Venezuela are scheduled to take place sometime during September and October.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence has recruited officers with Spanish language fluency. These experts have been promised additional increments on their low salaries in return for travelling with the shipments to Cuba and Venezuela. The officers who are set to accompany the shipments will include language experts and interpreters, as well as specialists able to train the Cubans and Venezuelans in the use of the military equipment being supplied. During September and October it is expected that the military equipment will be installed on site in both countries.
The volume of equipment to be sent by the oddly-named Ministry of Machine Building (Ministerstvo mashinostroeniya), which is heavily involved in Ukraine's military exports, will be equally divided between both countries. The bulk of the military equipment being sent to Cuba and Venezuela is light to medium equipment. This includes light infantry weapons coupled with small and medium sized military vehicles. JID has learned that negotiations are underway for Ukraine to supply more sensitive and strategically important military equipment to both Cuba and Venezuela.
Throughout the summer, hundreds of pages of documents to accompany the weapons shipments have been translated into Spanish and English. These documents include operating manuals, an inventory and the contracts. It is understood from sources involved in organising the shipment that the contracts are for the supply and maintenance of the military equipment, in addition to training, for between five to 10 years.
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