Russians Purchase Israeli Drones

June 4, 2009

So it is not surprising that there [is] a number of Russian parliamentarians who voted against the US $49 million deal. Iran and Syria protested the sale by its key patron, but the acquisition was apparently driven by the Russians’ need to dissect and analyze the drones because of the effectiveness they demonstrated when the Georgians used them against Russian forces during the fighting in August 2008.

Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin told a news agency that Russia was purchasing the drones for test purposes because his nation’s military industry needs to “familiarize” itself with the Israeli weapon. Popovkin said in case of war, “we would of course deploy our own products.”

The Media Line

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