BRUSSELS, October 5. /TASS/. Russia will provide aid to Afghanistan either directly or via UN bodies, without mediation by international foundations, Russian Presidential Special Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said on Wednesday.
"We do not have trust in any international foundations and we would like to control that small but important amount that we give to Afghanistan," said Kabulov, who represented Russia at the international donors’ conference on Afghanistan held in Brussels. "We do not believe in the common pot, from which the money is taken out and spent somewhere."
"Russia will focus on humanitarian aid supplies. In the past two years, we have delivered 46 tonnes of all sorts of humanitarian aid on the bilateral basis and via the United Nations bodies. What is more, in our territory we annually train nearly 200 Afghan army officers in various military professions and the same number of police officers with emphasis on anti-drug operations," the Russian diplomat said, adding that Russia provided the Afghan armed forces with 10,000 units of firearms and 2.5 million cartridges.
"As for investments into the Afghan economy, we cannot find crazy people in Russia today," Kabulov went on to say. "We have found a reckless Russian company that tried to set up a joint venture with the Afghan government but the Afghan partner, a minister, demanded a 15-percent kickback. We shut it down. Then he was jailed and another one was appointed, but then it all started again. We are careful enough not to push Russian business into Afghanistan.".