DPA, January 16, 2002
Macedonia Buys More Assault Helicopters
SKOPJE, (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) -
The Macedonian army acquired two more
Mi-24 ground attack helicopters and the police also seeks to buy another
four, the Skopje daily Dnevnik said Tuesday.
The two "K" class gunships, capable of reconnaissance and artillery
support, have landed at Skopje airport and are on operative standby, the
paper said, adding that the defense ministry confirmed their arrival.
A Macedonian delegation, headed by the army chief of general staff
Metodi Stamboliski on a two-day visit to Kiev, was due to meet Ukrainian
Defense Minister Oleksandar Kusmuk Tuesday, Foreign Minister Anatoly
Slenko and military officials.
Officials said the delegation traveled to Ukraine to "intensify military
and military-technical cooperation", not purchase weapons.
But Dnevnik quoted sources as saying that the interior ministry is
interested in acquiring four Mi-24 aircraft of its own. No other details
were available.
With the latest addition, the ARM airborne fleet has 12 Mi-24
helicopters, four Mi-8's and three Mi-17's, the paper said, along with
four Sukhoi-25 ground attack jets.
The Macedonian army repeatedly used the helicopters during the eight
months of fighting with ethnic Albanian rebels in the mountainous north
and northwest of the country last year.
The latest major outburst of violence occurred in the crisis area of
Tetovo two months ago, but tensions remain high in the country in which
the restive ethnic Albanian community makes up around 23 percent of the
population.
The ARM bought virtually all of the combat aircraft from Ukraine since
the conflict erupted nearly a year ago.
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