Minsk Sends Envoy to Venezuela to Rescue Air Defense Program

The Belarusian leader sacked Dzmitry Pakhmielkin as commander of Belarus’ Air Forces and Air Defense Forces on July 31. On the same day, Aliaksandr Lukashenka appointed Alieh Pafierau, former air/air defense commander, as ambassador to Venezuela.

Pakhmielkin was dismissed over a Swedish light plane’s illegal flight over Belarus on July 4. The single-engine plane piloted by two members of Sweden's public relations agency Studio Total invaded Belarus' airspace and dropped hundreds of teddy bears with the signs supporting freedom of speech on the town of Ivianiec and Minsk before flying back to Lithuania unhindered.

One purpose of the stunt might be to compromise Belarus’ air defenses and air defense technologies amid tight competition for arms contracts with Western companies.

The move also might be intended to foil a deal between Minsk and Caracas to upgrade Venezuela’s air defenses. In December 2007, the Belarusian leader authorized Alieh Pafierau, the deputy head of the State Defense Industry Committee, to negotiate and sign an agreement on assistance to Venezuela in establishing an integrated air defense electronic warfare system.

Another edict issued the same month empowered Mikalaj Azamatau, the then head of the State Defense Industry Committee, to negotiate and sign an accord outlining the conditions of stay of Belarusian military experts in Venezuela during the above-mentioned project.

Both accords were ratified behind the closed doors by the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the Belarusian National Assembly in April 2008.

Under the accords, Belarusian companies were to establish an air defense system and train its local operators within six years.

However, the illegal flight exposed flaws in Belarus’ air defenses. Whatever might be the motives for the stunt, the Swedish pilots dealt a heavy blow to Belarus’ reputation in the sphere of air defense and could complicate or thwart the above-mentioned deals.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez would never agree to buy a system vulnerable to low-flying aircraft given the increasing use of cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and guided bombs.

Lukashenka might have sent Pafierau, an architect of the accord, to reassure the Venezuelan leader, modify and eliminate shortcomings discovered in the Belarusian-led air defense program.

Chavez made it clear in 2009 that Venezuela seeks to establish an integrated air defense system that includes electronic warfare elements and equipment for protection from precision-guided munitions. It is expected to include S-300 (SA-10), Buk-M2 (SA-17 Grizzly) and Pechora-2M (an upgraded version of SA-3 Goa) missile systems of various ranges.

“We must defend strategic facilities, including the Guri hydropower plant, oil fields, big oil refineries, industrial giants, naturally, military facilities and command posts, large cities such as Caracas, to feel more secure,” Chavez was quoted as saying.

A few months later, in March 2010, Lukashenka told Venezuelan MPs that he would assist his Venezuelan counterpart in establishing “systemic defense” from “the most powerful” enemies.

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