20/08/2014 The business newspaper “The View”, quotation
The immediate catalyst for conversations about selling of the weapons from old stocks of the former Warsaw Pact to Ukraine, it is a strange story in Hungary, where local bloggers photographed the trainload of tanks T-72, moving by rail in the direction to Ukraine. And it is the Ukraine, because it is impossible to turn to any other direction – rails rest on the result against the border point Zahon (aka Ukrainian Chop). Pretty soon it became clear that this is indeed the Hungarian tanks, which the Ministry of Defence of Hungary quite legally sold by tender (№ S14N08) to some firm – Excalibur Defense KFT. This firm is registered in Székesfehérvár, outdoors Bakony, Building 4 with a registered capital of 500,000 forints. In the column “profit” for 2013 in its reporting was listed round zero. There is evidence that its founders are few citizens of the Czech Republic.
Hungarian community interests in this story even not in the fact of sale older tank to somewhere (and so it is clear that the only neighboring country, which they generally may be needed – Ukraine) , but in the price received from it. Structural unit of the Ministry of Defence of Hungary, which is responsible for the tender, to gain from the sale of the first batch (22 tanks) 40.2 million forints, that is actually in the price of scrap metal. And the whole “Excalibur” received 58 tanks at a cost of one hundred times smaller than even (not market but) selling prise. In this case on the image can be clearly seen that the tanks have been prepared for sale. They are repainted and almost polished. It somehow does not tally with the performance in the Czech press of a representative of the “Excalibur” Andrew Chirtek saying that the tanks were bought from the Hungarian Ministry of Defence for their future “dismantling”.
Everyone was surprised and with the route by which the tanks moved from Hungary – in the opposite direction from the Czech Republic. Defense Ministry explained this “logistics” – from bases in Kalocsa train was moving through the Nyíregyháza, where they were photographed, to another base – in Nirteleke – to fulfill some formalities. That is the principle of “digging a ditch from the fence until lunch” flawlessly still works and in the Hungarian army, in spite of all NATO standards. But why re-paint something that is destined to become scrap metal?
The same firm won the second tender for the purchase of 24 MiG-29, which can not be called as scrap. Not to mention the helicopters. And all this with the delivery to the end of August. In this case, from the formal point of view, the everything seems to be fine. The tender was announced in advance, there are references to the relevant Hungarian regulatory documents and other “European standards.”
In this scheme, there is nothing new. The Hungarian Government is not willing to supply openly Ukraine with heavy weapons. But nobody against to earn extra five cents on the old trash, by selling this trash to civil mediators-adventurers from another country. And what do they will do with it – Budapest formally das not care. Old trick circus dogs. Yes, all our political position opposite, but the door will be slightly ajar. A 5% move, please, to the account of any firm “Swindlers and Spies Inc..” In Liechtenstein. And profit of lovely gentlemen from the Czech Republic will be an astronomical amount, because Kiev generally do not care how much to pay – this is in fact the American money.
In addition, the quality of ammunition from ancient reserves of the Warsaw Pact, to put it mildly,is not very good. Bulgarian mines, for example, tend not to explode, but somehow screwed into asphalt up to the stabilizer. And Bulgaria – one of the largest suppliers of this stuff. Prague – one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of weapons – has long been firmly turned (along with Budapest) to the informal center for illegal arms trade, and all of these chains are in control of dozens of foreign intelligence agencies and specialized agencies. And sooner or later, any of these chains with a great noise will be revealed.
Underhand delivery to Kiev of substandard equipment and ammunition of the old nomenclature can only briefly delay the end of the war. In this case, the responsibility for the deaths lies on the supplier, but as we see in the case of Hungary, the governments and politics prefer not to participate directly in the arms trade . A private individual conscience – a piece of twilight. This, of course, not the first and not the last case, with a wide field for activity of numerous intelligence and counter-intelligence and for sudden enrichment of adventurers. But the war ever end, the bodies of adventurers will be took out of Danube, and it will become clear that it was all useless.
