Military Capabilities

Ukraine says it found Russian SAMs destined for Eritrea

Jeremy Binnie, London - Jane's Defence Weekly

28 March 2019

A consignment of 36 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) for the S-125 (SA-3 'Goa') air-defence system that were destined for Eritrea have been discovered by the Ukrainian authorities, the country's top civilian and military prosecutors revealed on 27 March.

The 5V27D missiles were discovered by investigators during a search of a warehouse in the port city of Mykolaiv, according to a statement posted on the Prosecutor General's website.

The investigation subsequently established that officials from the Russian state export agency Rosoboronexport and other unidentified people smuggled the missiles into Ukraine in the period 2007-10 with the intention of exporting them to Eritrea in contravention of the UN arms embargo imposed on that country.