MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Ukraine’s decision to sever military and technical cooperation with Moscow carries no threat for Russia, since Moscow has already secured import substitution of the vast majority of products previously supplied by Ukraine, first deputy head of the United Russia faction in the State Duma and member of the lower house Defence Committee Franz Klintsevich told TASS on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine terminated the 1993 agreement on military and technical cooperation with Russia.
"To date, we have found alternatives to 90% of products we used to import from Ukraine," so Kiev’s decision "poses no threat today," Klintsevich said. Moreover, "if we try to be unbiased, this problem affects Ukraine more than Russia. This is due primarily to the fact that no one needs defence products manufactured in Ukraine, especially items of secondary importance that were used by the Russian Defence Ministry," the parliamentarian said.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had a large number of enterprises of the military-industrial complex, which were closely integrated with the Russian defence industry, including nearly a third of the enterprises and design bureaus of the Soviet rocket and aviation industry. On May 26, 1993, the governments of Russia and Ukraine signed an Agreement on Military and Technical Cooperation. The two sides agreed to maintain and develop cooperation in developing and manufacturing defence items, to carry out their reciprocal deliveries and provide military services.
In March 2014, Ukraine suspended shipments of military goods to Russia, and on June 16 President Petro Poroshenko prohibited military and technical cooperation with Russia. On August 27, Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council instructed the Cabinet to take measures to discontinue exports of military and dual use goods to Russia, with the exception of space systems used for research and peaceful space exploration as part of international space projects.