Yemen Russian Military Deals Continue
The multi-million deal to upgrade the Migs with the Ukranian Defense Ministry was only a few months ago. (Smart bombs in the hands of the Yemeni military…) Russia is Yemen’s largest creditor by far. (The Saudi debt is only around 400K.) But dire national interest takes second place to new toys. Are they for Saada or the South or the black market?
In June 2008, the US and Yemen signed their first end use monitoring agreement on mil hardware which will allow for the verification of articles and services provided to Yemen under U.S.-sponsored military and security assistance, thus preventing the misuse or illicit transfer of these items and services. We hope. Its not nice when your counter-terror assistance is used to target a civilian population or is sold onto the black market. Russia, China and North Korea have no such restrictions.
Natural Gas came up as a topic. The YLNG presold 9 TCF but there’s thought to be upto 16 TCF. Saleh tried to wrangle a debt write off, but no. And the unending shopping spree will continue as the head of the Air Force, Field Marshal Saleh’s half brother, Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, is heading to Oman this month for an industry conference.
Washington, DC – Following the visit of Yemeni resident ‘Ali ‘Abdallah ‘Salih to Russia last week, the two countries have signed a deal worth an estimated $1 billion that would see some very sophisticated Russian weaponry exported to Yemen, the official Yemen news agency SABA reported.Among the weaponry are a number of MiG-29 fighter jets, attack and transport helicopters, T-80 and T72 tanks and armored vehicles, in addition to modern telecommunications equipment, the news agency reported.
In exchange, the Russian government-owned gas giant Gazprom announced that it intended to invest in gas and oil projects in Yemen.
Among the plans is the construction of a plant that would be able to handle 6.7 million tons of gas yearly. It is estimated that Yemen has a 16,951-billion cubic feet gas reserve.
The new plant would convert the gas into liquid known as liquefied natural gas or LNG, which is then exported by ship. While exporting the gas as LNG requires extensive infrastructure investment at both the exporting and importing harbors, it does not include the construction of pipelines which are vulnerable to sabotage. This happened twice in 10 days just last month.
Lots of tetatee: MOSCWO,Feb.26 (Saba) -President Ali Abdullah Saleh received on Thursday at his residence in Russia the director general of the Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport.
MOSCOW, February 26 (RIA Novosti) – The president of Yemen said his country plans to buy a number of MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters and other military equipment from Russia, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Ali Abdullah Salah, who is currently on a visit to Russia, met on Wednesday with President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss military and trade cooperation, as well as tackling piracy and terrorism.
“These [the MiG-29] are excellent aircraft. We have had them for a long time and several years ago we brought them to Russia and carried out their modernization program,” the Yemeni president said in an interview published by Russia’s Vremya Novostei newspaper.
“Suffice it to say that we are planning to acquire more of these aircraft and probably MiG-35 fighters as well. We are also in talks on the purchase of Russian helicopters and patrol boats,” he added.
About 90% of the military hardware and aircraft used by the Yemeni Armed Forces were made in the Soviet Union. Yemeni Air Force currently has 44 MiG-29SMT and MiG-29UBT fighters in service.
Yemen and Russia are currently holding talks to reach an agreement on the maintenance of military hardware, component supplies and training of Yemeni military personnel in Russia.
MOSCOW, February 24 (Itar-Tass) – Yemen hopes for considerable expansion of business contacts with Russia, firstly in the military-technical cooperation and petroleum sector, Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih said during Tuesday’s meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
He pointed to the close contacts between the two sides and stressed the intention to continue them.
The Yemeni president said that his country is very interested in more intensive trade and economic interaction, including in the oil and gas sector, military and technical cooperation and cultural contacts.
Salih added that Yemen expects the relevant deliveries from Russia.
According to Putin, “bilateral trade has slightly decreased lately.”
“With this in mind, we have many issues for talks,” he said, adding, “The structure of trade should be improved, but its content meets interests of the two countries.”
The sides confirmed “the two countries have close or identical stances on the developments in the world and in the region.”
The Yemeni president stated that this mainly related to the joint response to terrorism.
Taking part in the meeting were Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Deputy Head of the Governmental Staff Yuri Ushakov, Chief of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Mikhail Dmitriyev and Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov.
Upon the results of 2008, bilateral trade reached 205.5 million U.S. dollars, as compared to 179 million U.S. dollars in 2007.
Russia’s export amounted to 197 million U.S. dollars. Russia mainly exports grain (about 70 percent), machinery and equipment (23 percent), as well as oil and petroleum products, paper and metal products.
Yemen imports to Russia coffee (96.8 percent) and seafood.
In addition, among other traditional spheres of bilateral trade and economic cooperation are energy sector, transport, production of construction materials and healthcare.
An Expected Yemen-Russia Arms Deal.
YemenOnline. Feb 25 – President Ali Saleh, who had recently arrived in Moscow , met today with the Russian Federation President Dmitri Medvedev. According to information available to the Russian “Kommersant” newspaper, the Yemeni President counts on cancellation of US$ 1.2 billion Yemeni debt to the Russian Federation in exchange for granting Moscow the right to implement the US$ 4 billion broad-based program regarding upgrading Yemeni army.
In addition, President Ali Saleh expressed his willingness to ensure the participation of Russian enterprises in major civil projects in Yemen. The problem is that Yemen is trying to gain substantial facilities with respect to the purchase of Russian weapons, while Russia does not find itself fully ready to it, due to the economic crisis. Yemen is a traditional importer of Russian weapons. But the military-technical cooperation with Russia almost ceased after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, the Yemeni army needs at this particular time to be upgraded and rearmed. Yemen is counting on Moscow in this regard. According to information from “Kommersant” sources, the Yemeni high-rank military delegation, which also includes Finance Minister, presented a list of weapons of concern to the Yemeni side. There is a talk in particular about the “MIG -29″, helicopters, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, rocket launchers, air defense missiles, radars and combat boats.
Update 3/23
Source: World Tribune
Yemen has approved a plan to erase its billion-dollar debt to the former Soviet Union, in a deal that would facilitate weapons procurement.
Officials said Yemeni President Abdullah Saleh has agreed to a Russian plan that would erase Sanaa’s debt to the Kremlin. They said the plan called for Sanaa to offer Russian companies a stake in Yemen’s growing energy sector.
“It was either that or cash,” an official said.
Officials said the Yemeni debt to Moscow has reached $1.2 billion, based largely on arms sales to Yemen in the 1980s and early 1990s. They said this allowed Yemen to order such Russian aircraft as the MiG-29 and upgrades.
“We expect the agreement [to erase Yemen's debt to Moscow] to be signed sometime this year,” the official said.
The deal was said to have been reached during the visit to Moscow by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in late February. Officials said Saleh offered Russia base rights and a stake in Yemen’s energy sector in exchange for advanced weapons and training. Days later, Yemen was said to have signed a $1 billion deal for the MiG-31 and MiG-29 fighter-jets.
“There are plans to establish a Russian military base on the Yemeni island of Socotra,” the official said.
Under the agreement, Yemen would be allowed to order $4 billion worth of equipment and services from Moscow. Officials said about $2.6 billion would be allocated toward the procurement of Russian combat jets and other military platforms.
