Yemen recieves 10 mig-29s

First 10 Russian Mig-29’s Sent to Yemen Despite US Objections
BBC Monitoring International Reports July 3, 2002

The first consignment of 10 Russian MiG-29 military aircraft was
delivered by
special sea-going tanker to the Yemeni port of Aden yesterday. This
happened
despite the objections of the United States, which has been wary of the
Yemenis
since the 11 September terrorist acts. According to Izvestiya’s
information, the
deal is worth 300m dollars.

The Russian Defence Ministry recalled during a conversation with
your
Izvestiya correspondent that “almost 200 MiG fighters have been
supplied to
Yemen in the period since 1960″. However, of late there have been no
sizable
military shipments to this Arab country.

According to Konstantin Makiyenko, the deputy director of the Centre
for the
Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, 15 Russian fighters are
scheduled to be
supplied to Yemen in two consignments. The contract “involves
tremendous risks,
primarily political risks. It is not without reason that the
possibility of
military attacks on Yemeni territory has been discussed since the
terrorist acts
in the United States”. Al-Qa’idah supporters were based there quite
recently.
Admittedly, of late the threat seems to have passed. Yemen has proved
itself to
be almost a US ally by arresting people suspected of links with Usamah
Bin-Ladin. This has also helped Russia’s MiG Aircraft Corporation keep
a
valuable client.

It will also be possible to judge from the Americans’ reaction to
the “Yemeni
contract” what the prospects are for Russian military-technical
cooperation with
countries whose reputation is far worse in the West than Yemen’s,
namely, Iran,
Libya, and Syria.

Nataliya Khmelik, an arms expert from the Centre for Political
Technologies,
says: “Russia only re-established its military-technical cooperation
with Yemen
in 2000 when Yemen bought T-90 tanks from us. At the moment the MiG-29
is the
most popular Russian warplane in the world and is highly rated on the
arms
market. This deal may provoke the United States’ displeasure. It is
quite
possible that the aircraft are being bought for resale, to Iraq, for
instance.
The mechanisms for illegal exports to Baghdad have been well studied,
and
companies from Arab countries are most often involved in them.”