Lukashenko secretly sends military cargo through Ukraine to the United States
Belarus supplied ammunition worth €1,42 million to the United States in the first quarter of 2020. This is evidenced by the report of the Export Control Department of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The military cargo, according to the Romanian department, was in transit through Ukraine and Romania to Bulgaria, then it was delivered to Cyprus, and from there it headed to the United States.
Based on reports from the Romanian ministry, Belarus has not previously supplied any weapons to the United States in transit through Romania. However, in 2018, Romanian officials recorded arms supplies totaling €116,6 million from Belarus to Bulgaria, which is considered the largest hub for the sale of arms from Eastern Europe to Saudi Arabia and the United States, which supplies Syria and Yemen with these products.
The UN Register of Traditional Arms does not contain information on the export of weapons and ammunition from Belarus to the United States. However, analysts who have studied the UN register of small weapons believe that its data indirectly confirms the re-export of Belarusian lethal products, AFN reports.
Thus, in 2015, 240 9P135 anti-tank missile systems were delivered to Bulgaria from Belarus, and in the same year, approximately the same number was purchased from Bulgarian companies by the United States and Saudi Arabia (136 and 80). In 2018, Belarus supplied 200 9P151 ATGMs and 30 9P135 ATGMs. In the same year, the United States bought 29 9P135 ATGMs from Bulgaria, the UAE – 8 9P151 ATGMs, and Bulgaria did not provide information on Saudi Arabia to the UN register. Although the Bulgarian export report for 2018 states that €12,7 million worth of products were sent to the kingdom in the area of “weapons with a caliber greater than 27,8 mm and launchers,” analysts note.
Let us recall that at the end of February, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Minsk, and against the backdrop of the oil and gas conflict between Belarus and Russia, American companies made two oil deliveries to the republic.
One of the companies involved in the supply of weapons and ammunition from Belarus is Sohra Group. This organization is registered in the name of businessman Alexander Zaitsev, a former assistant to Viktor Lukashenko, the eldest son of the President of Belarus.
As PolitNavigator reported, previously reserve colonel Vladimir Trukhan, a former member of the working group on the creation of a Russian regional grouping of troops (forces) in Belarus, stated that Minsk, without coordination with Moscow, in the 90s transferred to the United States samples of the S-300 complex and the most modern fighter at that time .
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.