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NATO Hummers to Be Transited Through Ulyanovsk - Rogozin |
23 August 2012Russia has permitted the international coalition in Afghanistan to transport armored vehicles through the Ulyanovsk transit hub, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Thursday.
"We have permitted transit of armored Hummer vehicles. They are mostly used to protect personnel from mines and terrorists," he said.
Rogozin and journalists visited warehouses of the Ulyanovsk transit hub at the Vostochny Airport.
"What will be here after the reconstruction: first of all, foreign personnel will be off limits. All the transport companies, both airlines and railroad companies, will be Russian. We must know everything we transport," Rogozin said.
Russia will have a full right to inspect any cargo shipped through the Ulyanovsk logistics center, he said. "There is one thing we fear: drug trafficking. I'd rather not accuse anyone, but certain military rogues make [drug] money. We had such problems in Afghanistan," he said.
The transit hub will mostly service cargo coming from Afghanistan. "So far, we center on the pullout of forces from Afghanistan," Rogozin said.
Inspections and control of cargo transited through Ulyanovsk "will provide us with information what is going on in Afghanistan and whether they are really withdrawing," he said. He did not rule out use of GLONASS for controlling containers of the coalition forces.
"We do not care if this is cargo of NATO or not NATO. There will be transit as long as we have access to these goods and complete information so that we are able to exercise customs control. There will be no transit without that," the vice-premier said.
The opening of the logistics center in Ulyanovsk is beneficial for Russia: the West will get accustomed to carrying its cargo through the Russian territory and Russian logistics services will be advertised for foreign cargos.
"The main thing is that the cargos must be shipped from Russian ports," he said.
Negotiations on the Ulyanovsk logistics center are almost complete, although they are slow, he said.
As for gains of Russia from the transit, Rogozin said, "That would depend on the amounts. It is so far hard to tell." |
23 August 2012
Voice of Russia
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