Posted on 03/28/2003 11:16:51 AM PST by knighthawk
KIEV: The US ambassador to Ukraine said on Friday that American forces in Iraq have so far found no radar systems that Washington suspected were sold to Baghdad and would put American and British pilots at risk.
The United States said last year it had verified the authenticity of a July 2000 recording in which Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is allegedly heard approving the sale of four Kolchuha radar systems to Iraq in violation of UN sanctions. US officials feared the systems could enable Iraq to target warplanes enforcing no-fly zones.
Asked whether US forces had found evidence of Kolchuha air-defence radar systems in Iraq, Ambassador Carlos Pascual told the Associated Press they had not. He said "their focus is on winning the war" and indicated the issue was not closed.
Kuchma asserted Wednesday that the US-led war in Iraq will prove his country did not sell Kolchuhas to Baghdad.
US and British experts who in October investigated whether any of the systems were actually sent to Iraq reported a "credible possibility" that Ukraine sent Kolchuhas to Baghdad through a third country, but they did not find proof and accused Ukrainian officials of stonewalling the probe.
The investigators said Russia, China and Ethiopia were the only official recipients of Kolchuha systems since 1987.
The accusation severely damaged the Kuchma administration's relations with the United States and other Western nations. Washington suspended $54 million in aid to Ukraine last year, about one-third of its total annual amount.
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