Long negotiations by Russia to acquire additional Tu-160 strategic bombers from the Ukraine have been achieved though a trade for gas

Published: 8/9/1999

The Ukraine has finally agreed to sell eight of its Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers for Russian gas. General Anatoly Kornukov, head of the Russian Air Force announced Friday 6th August 1999 that in September-October 1999 eight Tu-160 bombers from the Ukraine would be transferred to the Russian Air Force to strengthen their strategic strike capability. The deal, which Russia has been negotiating since 1995, was achieved when the Ukrainians agreed to give the bombers to the Russians as a partial payment for Russian gas supplies. Payment for which is a perennial thorn in the side of Russia-Ukraine relations. For the Russians, the aircraft will provide the backbone of their nuclear strategic strike capability until 2015-2020 according to Nikolay Mihaylov, the Russian First Under secretary for Defence. The first Tu-160 arrived in Ukraine at the Priluki airbase in the Chernigov Region in May of 1987 and after the collapse of the USSR; twenty-one aircraft remained on Ukrainian territory. The deal, struck during the former Prime Minister Stepashin's recent visit to Kiev, will considerably increase the Russian fleet of six serviceable bombers and an additional aircraft currently being completed in Kazan by KAPO. (www.concise.org 8/7/99) For the Ukraine it allows a means of generating some revenue if only in kind from the remaining aircraft, which are due to be destroyed under the Start-1 treaty, following two aircraft that have already been disposed of. Whether the transfer of the aircraft to Russia gets around the requirement to destroy is unclear in the reports and comments so far. The earlier proposed purchase of three of the aircraft by a US space launch company (www.concise.org 16/4/99) was reported as requiring Washington's agreement.

Article ID: 742