Russian technicians, who were stationed at the Slovak air force base in Sljach until the end of last year, may have intentionally damaged the Slovak MiG-29 jet fighters that Bratislava recently delivered to Ukraine, the “Kyiv Independent” media reports.
Russian technicians, who were stationed at the Slovak air force base in Sljach until the end of last year, may have intentionally damaged the Slovak MiG-29 jet fighters that Bratislava recently delivered to Ukraine, the “Kyiv Independent” media reports.
Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said the planes “can fly, but that doesn’t mean they are also combat-capable.”
Nad added that the defects “appeared only in the parts that were accessed by the Russians”.
At the same time, Nad expressed confidence that the Ukrainian side will be able to make the planes fully operational.
“They have pilots, spare parts and a company that has been working with MiGs since Soviet times,” the minister said.
Although the police investigation has failed to unequivocally prove the intentions of the technicians, defects have been found only in the parts of the aircraft that were accessed by the Russians.
Russian experts were in the country based on a long-term agreement between Bratislava and Moscow. According to Slovak Air Force General Lubomir Svoboda, their presence was necessary for serious repairs because they had more knowledge of MiGs than Slovak personnel.
This allowed the Slovak side to carry out high-level repairs on site, instead of sending aircraft to Russia.
At the same time, Svoboda expressed suspicions about the Russians’ intentions: “They gave us an engine that was supposed to work for 350 hours. It only worked for 70 hours.”
This is not the first time that Slovakia has had problems with Russian military hardware. The Slovak army was forced to suspend its Mi-17 helicopters in 2018 “due to falsified repair documentation”.
Slovakia handed over all its MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine on March 23.
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