House approves £205 million defence budget

THE HOUSE plenum yesterday unanimously approved the £205 million defence budget for 1998, including provisions for the purchase of further Russian T80-U tanks.

Reports of the purchase of the tanks had been denied by the government earlier this year but were later confirmed by a deputy on the House defence committee.

The 1998 defence budget provides for the purchase of 41 T80-Us from a factory in the Siberian city of Omsk, at a cost of £85 million. The national guard already has such tanks, bought in 1995, in its arsenal.

The £205 million budget includes funds for the National Guard’s on-going armaments purchase programs, such as the controversial order for Russian S- 300 ground-to-air missiles, expected to arrive in the Summer.

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