Hasina defends $1b defence purchase from Russia

Strongly defending the $1 billion defence purchase from Russia, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the government was modernising the armed forces in the light of "the country's defence policy”.
“The defence policy was formulated in 1974 at the instruction of the father of the nation and in light of the policy, the “Forces Goal 2030” was prepared, and in light of that the armed forces is being reconstituted and modernised,” she told a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office yesterday.
Military weapons will be purchased so that the armed forces grow strong and become capable of defending the nation's independence and sovereignty, Hasina said. “It is futile to become a king without swords and shields,” she said in response to questions on the justification of the huge arms purchase.
The prime minister visited Russia on Jan 14-17 to sign a number of deals with Moscow, including the defence purchase and financing of the Rooppur nuclear power plant.
She said arms purchase was not a new subject, Bangladesh used to buy military hardware from many countries including China, Russia, USA, UK, Japan and Italy.
Recently, the government procured more military equipment including 44 tanks, training planes and missiles through cash payment from China but no-one raised any questions, she said, adding that Bangladesh needed military equipment as the country was engaged in UN peacekeeping missions.
Bangladesh purchased military equipments including armoured personnel carriers (APCs) from Russia when peacekeepers were sent on peace missions, and the UN
later reimbursed the expenditure, she said.
Apart from modernising the armed forces, Hasina said the government kept in consideration the maintenance of sovereignty on the 1,11,631 square kilometres of area in the Bay, which Bangladesh won against Myanmar.
Asked if the arms deal got the cabinet approval, she said it was not. A committee comprising defence, finance, foreign and cabinet division officials was constituted to scrutinise the deal, she said. “Not everything about defence is made public, some is kept secret everywhere.”

ROOPPUR NUKE PLANT
The PM said ROSATOM, the atomic energy commission of Russia, was very eager to start the actual work of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant within this year.
“The design will be completed by May, and preparatory work of the plant site will be finished by August and actual work will start by September-October,” she said.
The nuke power plant will have two reactors of 1000MW, and there will be five-tier safety arrangements.
As per the agreement, Russia will take back the waste of the plant, she said.
The prime minister said two agreements were inked to set up the nuclear power plant, under which Moscow would provide $500 million to finance the preparatory works. The interest rate is very low, she said.