MOSCOW. Feb 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Kuroyedov ruled out incorrect registration in transferring arms to the Ukrainian Navy in the times of Soviet Black Sea Fleet division.
"I rule out any chances of that, even more so given that such weapons as portable surface-to-air missile systems are in question. I can only speak about the Russian party and I can assure you that we have everything registered," Kuroyedov told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday, when asked to comment on reports about a missing portable SAM system in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Navy Commander-in-Chief Ihor Knyaz said that there are chances of the Strela-3M system and two missiles getting lost from a military unit in the Crimea back in the times when Russian Black Sea Fleet property was being handed over to Ukrainian sailors.
Knyaz told 1+1 television late on Wednesday that "the most important thing at the moment is to find out when and where they (portable SAM systems - Interfax-AVN) were registered, because maybe they were fired earlier. Maybe they were not given to us in the Black Sea Fleet division times."
"If the Ukrainian sailors have failed to arrange proper arms registration in the eight years since the Black Sea Fleet division, we are ready to help them," Kuroyedov said.
Earlier reports said that a launcher and two cases with missiles for the Strela-3M MANPAD were stolen from a storehouse of a Navy unit in the Crimea.
The Yevpatoriya military prosecutor's office opened a criminal case on charges of arms and ammo theft by a group of persons.
A commission of the Ukrainian Navy and Defense Ministry is working at the unit. Emergencies Ministry officers with sniffer dogs are examining the territory.
Commenting on the situation, Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko said that "there is nothing to steal from the army," because "everything was stolen before 2005." Tymoshenko also expressed concern over the fact that previous leaders of the Defense Ministry set civil guards, not servicemen, at some guarded warehouses.
Strela-3M is an efficient weapon against warplanes flying at low altitudes. It is a shoulder-held system operated by one person. The system is quite compact, the launcher weighs five kg and the entire system 20 kg. Experts consider the system a Soviet analog of U.S. Stinger.