• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Tank Interest

11 September, 2001 - 00:00

On September 3 Finnish Defense Minister Jan-Erik Enestam arrived on an official visit to Kyiv. During the talks that followed, issues of arms reduction and control, the progress and prospects of development of bilateral cooperation, as well as Ukraine’s relations with NATO and the EU were discussed. The talks resulted in signing a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between the defense ministries of the two countries. According to UNIAN, experts of the Center for Monitoring the Army, Conversion, and A rms R eduction believe Finland might seek cooperation with Ukraine as it has added T-72 tanks to its armory, which need upgrading. Still, as Defense Ministry Press Service Head Kostiantyn Hevrenko told The Day, Finland has not made a final decision on upgrading these tanks, for it is also reviewing the option of buying new tanks or excluding tanks from its armed forces altogether. As the Finnish defense minister put it, if Finland chooses to upgrade the tanks, Ukraine will top the list of countries to do the job upgrading. Incidentally, in 1999 a Finnish Armed Forces delegation visited Ukraine to study the potential for upgrading the tanks at the Kharkiv-based Morozov Design Bureau. However, a final decision will be made no sooner than 2004. The talks also touched upon the issues of cooperation in the sphere of peacemaking and of emergency response.

By Mykhailo ZUBAR, The Day
Rubric: