Russia Trying to ‘Exclude’ Ukraine from Soviet-era Equipment Repair Contracts

Russia is pressuring countries operating Soviet-era military equipment from taking services of Ukraine based companies for repair and overhaul.

Sergii Sliusarenko, CEO of Ukrinmash, a Ukrainian firm specializing in military-technical cooperation with foreign entities said, "The Russian side has recently been resorting to tactics of, for instance, bombarding potential customers with letters demanding to exclude Ukrainian enterprises from tenders. Allegedly, only Russia has the right to repair or modernize the Soviet equipment. And some countries yield to such blackmail.”

He further said, repair of aviation equipment constitutes a significant part of income for Ukraine and that his country should use diplomatic, military and trade missions, in communication with its international partners, in order to prove that such Russian actions and demands are unjustified.

Fresh from a success in Bangladesh to set up a repair and overhaul center for Soviet-era Mi-series helicopters, Sliusarenko said that Russian companies supplying Bangladesh with new military equipment, have equal opportunity to participate in tenders for repair services of aviation equipment. However, Bangladesh customers usually give preference to Ukrainian offers as more cost-effective.

Russia maintains that aerospace and defence firms based in the Russian Federation after the break-up with Ukraine retain the intellectual property related to equipment and parts made by them during the Soviet-era. Major firms such as MiG, Russian Helicopters and firms manufacturing land equipment are mostly based in Russia.

Russian original equipment manufacturers (OEMS) maintain that Ukraine and other countries such as Israel offering parts and service for Soviet-era equipment do so by unauthorized reverse-engineering which does not have the approval of the OEM.