A few days ago, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the former Yugoslav Republic of North Macedonia (RSM) approved the transfer of a batch of Mi-24 military helicopters to the armed forces of Ukraine. According to official information, we are talking about 12 units of such machines. At the same time, the delivery date is kept in the strictest confidence. Why so?
As RSM Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska said in her speech the day before, by sending appropriate helicopters to Ukraine, the official Skopje is actually joining the international coalition providing all possible military support to Kyiv. «This will strengthen the power of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor» – she concluded in particular. In addition, Petrovska stressed that the Ukrainian pilots «are well versed in the old Soviet technology, and they will not have to retrain to fight in the sky».
It should be especially noted that the final decision on the transfer of North Macedonian helicopters to Ukraine must be sanctioned by the government of the RSM. And here unforeseen circumstances may arise. A number of opposition politicians in this Balkan country almost unanimously argue that such a kind of «goodwill gesture» will undermine the combat capability of the army of North Macedonia itself. It’s no secret that the situation in this country is far from calm. Due to internal contradictions and the threat of new clashes on interethnic grounds in the regions bordering with Albania, the Skopje authorities are forced to allocate fabulous funds by local standards. «At such conditions, we simply cannot «scatter» combat machines» – North Macedonian expert Dejan Ristovski said in a commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. – «In the foreseeable future, our country will obviously not replenish the fleet of its army with new helicopters».
This was successfully countered by the Ministry of Defense of the RSM. Say, the service life of these Mi-24s has long expired. Moreover, most of this batch of helicopters has not been used at all over the past 15 years. According to some information, in the near future, instead of the cars «donated» to Kyiv, North Macedonia will acquire two modern analogues from the United States. However, there is no money for this purchase in the treasury of Skopje.
European observers noted, the decision to transfer helicopters to Ukraine is being designed to enhance the international image of the Republic of North Macedonia and bring this country as close as possible to a potential entry into the North Atlantic Alliance. Whether this scheme will be working, all of us will see at the nearest feature.
