Russia monitors situation with Il-76 detained in Bangkok - FM.

18/12 Tass 315

MOSCOW, December 18 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Foreign Ministry keeps a
close watch on how the situation with the Il-76 cargo plane with illegal
arms on board detained in Bangkok on December 12 develops, the ministry's
spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko, said on Friday.
"The Thai authorities said the plane flew from North Korea to a third
country with a large batch of illegal arms and explosives on board.
According to some unofficial information that we can neither prove nor
deny, this is a Georgian plane that headed for Ukraine," the diplomat said.
"I will not hide suspicions that these countries are engaged in
illegal arms trade for some well-known reasons," Nesterenko said.
At the same time, "Moscow is satisfied with the fact that this case
proved effectiveness of UN Resolution 1874 and sanctions banning arms
export from North Korea," he said. "We are confident that any attempts to
export military products from this country in violation of the existing
sanction regime will be prevented by the world community."
Nesterenko expressed the hope that after a thorough objective
investigation Thailand's authorities will continue the work to get the
results linked with the activities of the UN Sanctions Committee on the UN
Security Council Resolution 1718.
The Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane was arrested in Bangkok on
Saturday. The Thai authorities found a reported 35 tons of weaponry aboard
it, all exported from North Korea in defiance of U.N. sanctions. The crew
- four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus - have been imprisoned on
illegal arms possession charges.
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