Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) has accused Slovakia of breaching international regulations and contractual obligations by transferring Russian-made weapons to Ukraine. In a statement, the FSMTC claimed that Slovakia had ‘grossly violated international obligations on the re-export of Russian-made weapons’ as per the 1997 Agreement between the Russian and Slovak governments on Military-Technical Cooperation. The FSMTC oversees military-technical cooperation between Russia and foreign countries, and it is headed by the Russian President. The Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation oversees and controls its activities.
The FSMTC’s statement came after the Slovak Ministry of Defense announced that it had delivered the first batch of MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine. Slovakia became the second NATO member country to send warplanes to Ukraine during the ongoing conflict. The statement referred to the 1997 agreement and stated that ‘Contracting Parties will not sell or transfer weapons and military equipment to third countries without the written consent of the other Contracting Party.’
The Slovak Ministry of Defense denied having the document mentioned in the FSMTC’s statement in their archives, which the FSMTC claims could be an attempt to mislead. The FSMTC offered to provide a copy of the intergovernmental document stored in Russian archives to assist the Slovak side.
The Russian agency also accused Slovakia of violating contractual obligations, including Article 14.6 of the contract signed with the Ministry of Defense of Slovakia on July 8, 1993. This article states that the customer will not sell or transfer special equipment and technical documentation or information about them to other countries without the consent of the supplier.
Additionally, the Slovak Ministry of Defense terminated a contract in 2009 for subscription service of MiG-29 aircraft of the Slovak Air Force. The FSMTC pointed out that the Russian side has been fulfilling its obligations to maintain the aircraft in combat-ready condition, but the Slovak side has not resolved issues regarding the return of expensive equipment imported for aircraft maintenance and payment for services already rendered.
According to the Russian statement, ‘The equipment delivered under the conditions of temporary importation continues to be illegally held by the Slovak Side and can be transferred to Ukraine. According to our assessment, the above arguments indisputably indicate a violation by the Slovak Side not only of its contractual obligations, but also of international export control regulations.’
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