RUSSIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO BE TRADED IN FOR DEBT PAYMENT TO SOUTH KOREA








TOKYO, March 1, 2001 /from Vyacheslav Bantin, RIA Novosti Correspondent/ -- A group of South Korean Defense Ministry experts will travel to Russia next April or May to nail down military equipment shipments to Seoul. Informed sources in Seoul have revealed that the value of the shipments is projected to be about $500m as payment of part of Russia's debt to South Korea.


	Representatives of Russian and South Korean government on February 26 signed a memorandum in Seoul, providing for shipments of military and civil equipment to South Korea in order to repay Russia's debt to Seoul, which is currently about $1.9bn, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov disclosed earlier to RIA Novosti.


	Seoul sources say the memorandum envisions shipments worth $500m to 1.2bn. The precise price tag is expected to become known after the experts of the Republic of Korea's defense agency have travelled to Russia.


	South Korean press have reported that Seoul is primarily interested in purchasing a few military transport jets and helicopters and a flying tanker in Russia.