MOSCOW, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Russia will decide within two months whether to deliver around two dozen Russian Mi-17 helicopters to NATO forces in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said.
"We are talking about a couple of dozen helicopters with the relevant equipment," Lavrov was quoted as saying Wednesday by Russian news agency RIA Novosti. "I hope that in a month or a month and a half there will be more clarity on the issue."
NATO Military Committee Chairman Giampaolo di Paola last month confirmed that the alliance had approached Russia over a potential helicopter delivery.
"We handed our proposals about how we would carry out the initiative to Brussels a few months ago," Lavrov said, adding that the proposal entails sending the first three helicopters for free. "We are now waiting for a definite answer from our partners."
Observers say the choppers would be used in the NATO police and military training missions in Afghanistan.
Sold by Russia's Rosoboronexport, the Mi-17 (NATO codename Hip) is a medium-sized transport helicopter that can also be used as a gunship armed with bombs, rockets or gunpods. It can transport around 30 troops or some 10,000 pounds of equipment.
The Soviet Union specifically designed the Mi-17 for the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Afghan forces are familiar with the chopper, which is popular worldwide.
India has already ordered 80 Mi-17 helicopters and will soon add 59 more, India's air force chief Pradeep Vasant Naik told this week's India Strategic magazine. The United States uses a limited number of Mi-17s for training and has purchased dozens of units for allies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Mi-17 competes with the U.S. Black Hawk and Sikorsky helicopters, and U.S. forces have mulled buying the Russian model for its NATO campaign because Afghans know the Mi-17 better than their U.S. counterparts.
The Mi-17 is easier to purchase since May, when Washington lifted sanctions against its producer Rosoboronexport that blacklisted it from tendering for U.S. arms deals.
The sanctions were imposed in 2006 after the U.S. government accused Rosoboronexport of violating the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Sikorsky from Connecticut earlier this month filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office over Navair's plan to buy 21 Mi-17s for use in Afghanistan, arguing its S-61 model is comparable, Fox News reports on its Web site. The article didn't reveal whether Sikorsky complained against the particular order mentioned above.
