Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Russian military stalls on reports Ukraine sold warheads to Iran
12:25 | 03/ 04/ 2006

Two texts, one says no the other says I don't know.

-Am


MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - The chief of Russia's General Staff said Monday he could neither confirm nor deny reports that Ukraine had sold 250 nuclear warheads to Iran.

"Russia's General Staff has no information about whether Ukraine has given 250 nuclear warheads to Iran or not," General Yury Baluyevsky, also deputy defense minister, said in response to an article in Novaya Gazeta newspaper Monday. "I do not comment on unsubstantiated reports."

The newspaper said that Ukraine had failed to return 250 warheads to Russia in the 1990s when the former Soviet republic declared itself a nuclear-free zone. The paper suggested the warheads could have been sold to a third country, including Iran.



http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060403/45107320.html





Ukraine did not sell warheads to Iran - defense ministry
22:03 | 03/ 04/ 2006



KIEV, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian defense ministry denied media reports Monday that Ukraine had sold 250 nuclear warheads to Iran.

"Ukraine completely fulfilled international obligations to return warheads to the Russian Federation," Colonel General Serhiy Kyrychenko, the chief of the Ukrainian General Staff, said in response to an article published in Russian daily Novaya Gazeta Monday. "None of the warheads were lost during the return. This can be proven by relevant documents, the copies of which are in Russia and Ukraine."

The newspaper said that Ukraine had failed to return 250 warheads to Russia in the 1990s when the former Soviet republic declared itself a nuclear-free zone. The paper suggested the warheads could have been sold to a third country, including Iran.




http://en.rian.ru/world/20060403/45139994.html