MINSK. May 11 (Interfax-AVN) - Belarus has no plans to reduce its exports of weapons and military hardware, sources in the country's defense industry committee told Interfax.
Specialists "see nothing wrong" with selling "excess arms and military hardware from the Defense Ministry's reserve on the international market," one of the sources said.
On the contrary, the committee believes that "having these stocks and possibilities to prepare them for sale at one's enterprises and not selling them would not be rational," he noted.
Commenting on remarks accusing Belarus of selling weapons to so- called rogue states, the source said that "the reason behind such statements is that the republic has been included in the top ten arms exporters."
"Many people don't even know where Belarus is located. And including it in the top ten weapons exporters has come as a surprise to them. Naturally, every method, including accusations, is being used to squeeze the republic out of this market. It's as simple as that," he said.
"None of the accusations is grounded, which our accusers admit themselves, they only quote media reports," the source stressed.
"Very strict" control is being exercised over the export of weapons in Belarus. "We - the Security Council, the Defense Ministry, the State Security Committee, the Customs Committee, and the Industry Ministry - have been keeping detailed records of all arms sales," the source said.
"All the speculations about the necessity to make information on arms trade public are senseless," because "no country in the world will agree to fully declassify such data," he noted.
"The information that goes through media outlets only deals with big-ticket contracts, and Belarussian information is open as well, but only to a certain common extent," the source stressed.
According to him, Belaruss has made large-scale supplies of armaments, including air defense assets, to Sudan, Macedonia and Syria over the past few years. These contracts are "absolutely legal," because "sanctions of the UN Security Council are not imposed on these countries," he noted. "The U.S. opinion that arms cannot be supplied there is just an opinion," he said.
Speaking about the ethical aspect of arms sales to the countries engaged in combat operations, experts said that "military hardware sales do not automatically mean that the hardware will be used, resulting in death, anguish and destruction."
"We know many examples of one side abandoning plans of an aggression when it sees how well the other side is armed, or even when it gets to know that the expected enemy is planning to arm itself well," the source said.