Deliveries of MiG-29s to Bangladesh go ahead according to MAPO despite High Court order

Published: 10/19/1999

According to a report in Kommersant, Sokol will supply two MiG-29UB combat trainers to Bangladesh in December 1999, as part of a contract signed by the Bangladesh Ministry of Defence and MAPO. The total contract is for the supply of a further six MiG-29s in addition to the two planes. Viktor Andryuninin, Deputy Director General of Sokol, would not confirm the value of the contract (previously estimated to be $124m) but said that instalments would be paid over the next seven years. He claimed that two down payments have already been made. However, earlier reports of a High Court order in Bangladesh, stopping all payments to Russia for MiG-29s and declaring the transaction to be null and void (www.concise.org. 4th October 1999), cast doubt on these assertions. MAPO has so far denied any knowledge of the decision, but the charge made by the National Party of Bangladesh, that the deal is too expensive and not in the country's interests, seems wholly legitimate (www.concise.org. 16th July 1999).

Article ID: 981