Russia says MV Alaed carried only old choppers for Syria
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that cargo ship MV Alaed was carrying three Syrian military helicopters repaired in Russia under contract signed in 2008 and air defense assets, Rusnavy reports.
”Allegations that Russians were delivering the helicopters which could be used against peaceful demonstrators are a completely false assumption aimed at fanning fear and putting Russia in a bad light,” Sergey Lavrov told Radio Ekho Moskvy on June 21.
Earlier on, representative of Russian foreign ministry Alexander Lukashevich said that when Alaed was heading from the North Sea to Atlantic, her owner was informed about termination of insurance liability for third parties and that the ship must call at any port for examination. After that, it was decided to recall the ship back to Russia.
The Alaed issue was earlier covered by British press. Prior to that, Moscow and Washington had bitter disputes over Russia's military exports to Syria.
