Russia Article Index : Current 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Why Geography
 Latest
 News
 
 Most
 Read
 
 Most
 Commented
 Hot
 Topics
February 4, 2005
   

Ukraine's new government revealed that an investigation found  the previous government had illegally sold cruise missiles to Iran and China. Each of these countries got six of the Kh-55 cruise missiles. These are 1970s designs. weapons that entered Soviet service in the 1980s. The 1.7 ton missiles have a range of 2,500 kilometers and can be carried and launched by bomber aircraft. Ukraine's former government was long suspected of  exporting Russian weapons (inherited from the Soviet Union after the 1991 breakup). Russia also had some incidents of gun runners illegally smuggling weapons, but cracked down and stopped all, or most, of this activity.