Attention All Planes
// Ukraine Resumes Missile Firings over the Black Sea
Fear of Flying
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has officially announced the resumption of missile firings from its test range in the area of Cape Opuk in the Crimea. They were halted in 2001 after a Russian Tu-154M airliner owned by Sibir Airlines en route from Tel Aviv with 78 passengers on board was destroyed by an anti-aircraft missile of Ukraine's S-200 anti-aircraft defense system. Granted, Kiev is now planning to fire from the shorter range Osa and Buk anti-aircraft systems, not the long-range S-200.
As Major Konstantin Sadilo, a senior officer of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's press service, told Kommersant yesterday, “the ban on firing was lifted because Ukrainian test ranges have now been straightened out”. At the same time, he explained that the reason for abandoning the use of S-200 anti-aircraft systems was that Ukraine had no test range that could carry out long-range firings: the necessary ranges were in Russia and Kazakhstan; last summer, in particular, Ukrainian missile specialists fired from an S-200 at a test range in Kazakhstan.
It is interesting that Ukraine's Defense Minister, Aleksandr Kuzmuk, who was dismissed from this position due to the shooting down of the Tu-154M, issued the order to lift the ban on missile firings. He was reinstated last year as head of the Ministry of Defense and will act as minister until a new government is formed. As for the exercises involving firing from the Osa and Buk systems, they are to start closer to summer, as Ukraine's Ministry of Defense informed Kommersant yesterday.
Information on the lifting of the ban on launching anti-aircraft missiles in the Crimea provoked a mixed reaction among interested people. Thus, Rear Admiral Konstantin Bespalchev, the former head of the armory of the Black Sea Fleet, assured the Kommersant correspondent that the tragedy over the Black Sea in 2001 occurred only because of poor organization of the missile firings. Army General Anatoly Kornukov, the former commander-in-chief of Russia's armed forces, who was present at the exercises in 2001, agreed with him. A high-ranking Kommersant source in Russia's Ministry of Defense, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that last summer the Ukrainian military started using the Balkhash test range in Kazakhstan to fire from the S-200 and speculated that Kiev's decision was dictated by a desire save money that would otherwise have to be spent on carrying out firings from the Osa and Buk at the Russian Ashuluk test range. At the same time, the source estimated the degree of threat for planes flying close to the Crimea during missile firings as extremely high if they are “poorly organized” again – the Osa can strike targets at altitudes of 5 km and has a range of 8 km, while the Buk, which uses a semiactive homing head, can strike targets at altitudes of 22 km and has a range of 30-35 km.
Sibir Airlines refused official comment on the resumption of air defense exercises using Osa and Buk anti-aircraft missiles by the Ukrainian military, saying it would be “improper”. It may be a coincidence, but yesterday, almost simultaneously with the announcement of the resumption of firing, Sibir began regular weekly flights of their planes on the Moscow–Tel Aviv–Moscow route.
Ukrainian Atonement
Yesterday, Sergey Araslanov, the lawyer for relatives of the passengers killed in the wreck of the T-154M, explained to Kommersant that the Russian side (in the person of the Ministry of Health and Social Development) had already received the full amount of money intended for payments to relatives of the victims from Ukraine ($200 000 for each victim). A plan to distribute the compensation has been approved. Today, in his words, “the technical procedures are going on” – agreement forms for the relatives to sign are being prepared. Among other things, banking information of the compensation recipients will be indicated in these documents. Mr. Araslanov expects that the first survivors will receive the funds owing to them in March or April of this year. According to Evgeny Filyanin, an employee of Sibir's press service, the airline's position was initially to wait until payment of compensation to the victims' relatives and then conduct negotiations on compensation for the company. Mr. Filyanin affirmed that the airline itself was not a subject of the negotiation process with Ukraine. This matter is under the jurisdiction of a Russian interdepartmental commission. According to Kommersant's information, in 2003-2004, Ukraine transferred $7.5 million for payments to Israeli relatives of the victims and $7.089 for payments to Russian relatives.
Nikolai Gulko; Konstantin Voronov, Novosibirsk
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 28, 2005
|
