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ARMENIA OR LIBYA DESTINATION FOR MOLDOVAN WEAPONS?
news.az
Sept 21 2011
Azerbaijan
Armenia has denied involvement in the sale of a consignment of Moldovan
weapons, reported to have gone to Libya.
The scandal over the supply of a 60-tonne consignment of weapons
to Libya has spread beyond Moldova after the Moldovan authorities
announced that Latvia and Armenia were involved in the deal. On
Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Valeriu Lazar told journalists that
the plane that flew from Libya to collect the Moldovan weapons belongs
to Armenia which is the end recipient of the cargo.
"The plane belongs to Armenia. The consignment of used weapons was
acquired by Latvia and, according to the waybill showing the end
recipient, required in these cases, the shipment is to go to Armenia,"
Lazar told the press.
The arguments put forward by the deputy prime minister were denied
by the Armenian aviation authorities. Armenia's Main Civil Aviation
Directorate said that the information that it was an Armenian plane
that took 60 tonnes of weapons out of Moldova "is way off the mark".
The Directorate's press secretary, Nelli Cherchinyan, said on Thursday
that the information published in Moldova that Armenian air freight
carried weapons on the Libya-Moldova route was not accurate.
On 14 September, Latvian Foreign Ministry spokesman Janis Silis denied
in Riga the Moldovan Defence Ministry's information that the weapons
had been sold to a Latvian firm.
At 19.39 on Monday 12 September, an Il-76 plane, flying from Libya,
landed at Chisinau airport. The Defence Ministry said that after
refuelling, the plane flew to a military airfield in Marculesti where
it was to have picked up the cargo of arms, owned by the country's
national army and acquired by a Latvian company, registered in Riga.
After the cargo had been loaded, the plane flew from Marculesti in
the second half of the day on 13 September.
The overall weight of the weapons sold to the Latvian firm is 60
tonnes. It was taken out on two flights by a Libyan cargo plane,
on 13 and 14 September. The head of the Moldovan Defence Ministry's
press service, Alexander Josan, told Omega that the consignment of
weapons consisted of "artillery and anti-tank systems".
The plane which flew from Benghazi to Chisinau arrived in Moldova
just three days after Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat met
the Transdniester separatist leader Igor Smirnov in Germany. As well
as official talks, Filat and Smirnov had talks behind closed doors,
the topic of which is not known.
news.az
Sept 21 2011
Azerbaijan
Armenia has denied involvement in the sale of a consignment of Moldovan
weapons, reported to have gone to Libya.
The scandal over the supply of a 60-tonne consignment of weapons
to Libya has spread beyond Moldova after the Moldovan authorities
announced that Latvia and Armenia were involved in the deal. On
Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Valeriu Lazar told journalists that
the plane that flew from Libya to collect the Moldovan weapons belongs
to Armenia which is the end recipient of the cargo.
"The plane belongs to Armenia. The consignment of used weapons was
acquired by Latvia and, according to the waybill showing the end
recipient, required in these cases, the shipment is to go to Armenia,"
Lazar told the press.
The arguments put forward by the deputy prime minister were denied
by the Armenian aviation authorities. Armenia's Main Civil Aviation
Directorate said that the information that it was an Armenian plane
that took 60 tonnes of weapons out of Moldova "is way off the mark".
The Directorate's press secretary, Nelli Cherchinyan, said on Thursday
that the information published in Moldova that Armenian air freight
carried weapons on the Libya-Moldova route was not accurate.
On 14 September, Latvian Foreign Ministry spokesman Janis Silis denied
in Riga the Moldovan Defence Ministry's information that the weapons
had been sold to a Latvian firm.
At 19.39 on Monday 12 September, an Il-76 plane, flying from Libya,
landed at Chisinau airport. The Defence Ministry said that after
refuelling, the plane flew to a military airfield in Marculesti where
it was to have picked up the cargo of arms, owned by the country's
national army and acquired by a Latvian company, registered in Riga.
After the cargo had been loaded, the plane flew from Marculesti in
the second half of the day on 13 September.
The overall weight of the weapons sold to the Latvian firm is 60
tonnes. It was taken out on two flights by a Libyan cargo plane,
on 13 and 14 September. The head of the Moldovan Defence Ministry's
press service, Alexander Josan, told Omega that the consignment of
weapons consisted of "artillery and anti-tank systems".
The plane which flew from Benghazi to Chisinau arrived in Moldova
just three days after Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat met
the Transdniester separatist leader Igor Smirnov in Germany. As well
as official talks, Filat and Smirnov had talks behind closed doors,
the topic of which is not known.