KYIV. Oct 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said on Tuesday he did not give orders to deliver a Kolchuga radar system to Iraq.
"I would not have given orders to deliver arms to Iraq under any circumstances because this cannot be done," he said on Tuesday responding to reporters' questions whether he had given such orders to former chief of the Ukrspetsexport arms trading company Valery Maliev.
Kuchma recalled that Ukraine is exercising strict control over weapons exports, including by the commission for export control of the cabinet, the Ukrainian Security Council and a committee with the National Security and Defense Council.
The president said that had he decided to sell arms himself, "this would have been known all over the world."
He noted that Ukraine is interested in constructive and trusting relations with the United States, pointing to the key role this country is playing in the world.
Kuchma told journalists that he questioned allegations that Russia might have delivered Kolchuga systems to Iraq. "I cannot answer for Russia. There are strong doubts that Russia might have decided on such deliveries," he said.
The president noted that if Iraq has Kolchuga systems it would have used them long ago amid the threat of war.