MOSCOW, May 21 (RIA Novosti) – The next batch of nine Russian Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters under a contract with the United States is ready to be delivered to the Afghan army, the head of the Rosoboronexport delegation at the HeliRussia 2014 expo said Wednesday.
“As of April 2014, a total of 12 helicopters and equipment have been supplied to Afghanistan, and work has been done to build and receive another nine helicopters at various stages,” Vladislav Kuzmichev said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
The fate of the contract for the 30 military transport helicopters depends on the fulfillment of commitments by the US and Russia, Kuzmichev said, adding that there are no grounds to cancel the deal.
Amid the crisis in Ukraine, which the West blames on Russia, the US and the EU introduced sanctions against Moscow. While lobby groups called for a cancellation of the helicopter deal, the Pentagon said it would abide by its contracts.
Media reports said the Pentagon had requested the US Congress postpone sanctions against Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport to allow it to fulfill its helicopter deliveries to Afghanistan.
The company, Russia’s only state-run mediator for the import and export of arms, was not targeted by the sanctions imposed against a number of Russian firms and officials amid the crisis in Ukraine.
Russia has delivered a total of 45 Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters to Afghanistan. The first contract for the supplies of 21 helicopters was signed between Rosoboronexport and the US government in May 2011 and has been completed.
Last year, Russia completed the deliveries of 12 Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters under a 2012 option. The same year, Rosoboronexport signed another contract for the delivery of 30 additional helicopters. The overall contracts for the 63 Mi-17V-5 helicopters are estimated to be worth around $1.3 billion.
