Russia denies kickbacks on Indian arms deals

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, MARCH 28. A top Russian Cabinet member has denied that Russia ever paid commission to arms agents in India.

``Russia never paid any kickbacks for the simple reason that we deal directly with India's Ministry of Defence (MoD),'' Mr. Ilya Klebanov, Deputy Prime Minister and co-chairman of the Indo- Russian Defence Cooperation Commission, said.

``Each and every contract signed with India includes the mandatory provision that the two sides do not use the services of third parties,'' he said to a question from The Hindu on the Tehelka expose. ``We deal directly with top MoD officials and prices are negotiated at an expert level between the MoD and appropriate Russian agencies.''

The Tehelka tapes suggested that Russian exporters routinely paid 12 to 15 per cent commission to Indian arms brokers, half of which went back to Russian officials. Among the recent deals mentioned in the tapes were the SU-30 fighter jets and the T-90 tanks.

However, Mr. Klebanov dismissed the allegations as political. ``The scandal is most likely rooted in India's domestic politics,'' he said. ``I think it may be linked to attempts by some political structures to get access to the weapons markets.''

There was no proof for the allegations, he said, adding that the Indian Government had not made any enquiries with the Russian Government about the scandal. He also defended the former Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, saying, ``Mr. Fernandes is an extremely decent man with a very clean political name.''

Mr. Klebanov and Mr. Fernandes were to co-chair the first meeting of the Indo-Russian Commission for Military- Technical Cooperation in Moscow on April 2. The session had been postponed, Mr. Klebanov said. New dates would be fixed when India appoints a full-fledged Defence Minister.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Tehelka tapes had not affected defence cooperation between India and Russia. ``Our contacts proceed as before, experts meet in Moscow and Delhi and India has not held up payments on current arms deals.''

Defence experts, on the other hand, did not rule out kickbacks. ``There are commission payments in arms exports,'' said Mr. Konstantin Makienko of the Centre for Strategic Analysis and Technologies. ``But if any money were paid in the case of Russian sales, I don't think it was done in the form of vulgar bribes as suggested by the Tehelka tapes; it would be a more subtle operation.''

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : 'Musharraf no different from other military
           rulers'
Next     : U.S. wants to improve ties with India