The executive top of the Russian Federation does not cease to convince the citizens of Russia, alarmed by plans for a NATO base in Ulyanovsk, that there will be only a “staging post” or “jumping airfield,” and that it will bring considerable commercial benefit. Whose benefit?
The governor of Ulyanovsk region Mr. Morozov argues that this project will give the area a few thousand new jobs. That is, instead, to seek recovery of industrial and scientific power of Ulyanovsk – the largest center of the country’s defense, Mr. Morozov prefers that NATO is engaged in the problems of unemployment. Of course, the Alliance is interested in transformation of highly qualified Russian defense industry personnel into NATO porters.
Apparently, this “commercial” project is profitable to the governor himself, whose spouse being a very wealthy woman runs the firm “Itarus service” engaged in repair and maintenance of aircraft. Just on the profile of the planned air base. According to the mass media reports Mr. Morozov in person is related to the non-governmental organization, the board of trustees of which includes one of the former leaders of the western secret services.
There is no, however, doubt that the “basic” aspirations of Mr. Morozov reflect the true intentions of the Russian elite, which now shows the patriotism, but in fact continues the Yeltsin’s pro-Western course. When profit is put on one scale and on the other – national security, the selfish interests of the Russian “elite” has overweight once again. Perhaps the Forbes list of billionaires will soon be supplemented by new members roosted on sale of Russian interests.
Why is the West so hard willing to settle in Russia? The U.S. claims their motivation by the savings of time and money. Meanwhile, there are a lot of shorter, more convenient and low-cost routes that do not require transshipment to the railroad. It is possible for example, through NATO member states in Europe, via Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar and the UAE. The United States have already got an air base “Indzherlik” in Turkey with necessary logistics infrastructure. Transshipment of goods from Afghanistan through this base would have cost America several times cheaper.
Nevertheless, the U.S. are ready to go for big spendings. According to reports it is scheduled to land up to 30 heavy military cargo aircraft of C-5 “Galaxy” type capable to carry over 100 tons in Ulyanovsk per day. Handling more than three thousand tons of military cargo a day requires a powerful infrastructure of the airfield and associated multi-billion dollar cost of construction of temporary storage warehouses, customs terminals, loading and unloading facilities for handling freight to the railway. Americans will also need to buy expensive aircraft fuel in Russia, although the U.S. Air Force in Turkey have their own strategic fuel depots.
By some estimates, the cost of one takeoff and landing aircraft such as C-5 “Galaxy” will cost 30 thousand dollars, and its unloading -another 20 thousand dollars. The Alliance is ready to pay handsome U$15 per kilo of delivered cargo processing (while average prices lay in the U$ 2-3 range). That is, even in an economic decline period the U.S. are ready to accept the excessive prices. This can be explained only by the fact that the U.S. and their allies are pursuing a major geo-strategic objective to penetrate into the territory of Russia.
Experience shows that the Alliance smartly disguises military intervention as the humanitarian aid, military bases as the purely civilian facilities and never willingly leaves the occupied territories. Even if the base staff gets recruited exclusively from the locals and the presence of NATO militaries is not felt, however, such facilities are under the complete control of the Alliance and they become an integral part of its military structure.
They claim that the “nonmilitary” goods in delivery will be carefully inspected. However, according to customs regulations, transit containers only will be sealed and their contents, including any intelligence equipment, will not pass through customs control. It is well known that these logistic routes are very convenient to smuggle drugs and weapons.
Creating a NATO base in the Volga region means that Russia may in future prove to be an ally of the Alliance in its confrontation with Iran. It will also strengthen distrust of us from China, who knows about the old NATO plans to use Russia against China.
Communist Party of the Russian Federation declares that setup of a foreign military base on the Volga, in the most serious way conflict with the long-term security interests of our country. If earlier we spoke with anxiety about the encirclement of Russia by NATO bases, but now there is a real threat to the appearance of a foothold of NATO in the very heart of Russia. All the Russian patriotic forces must unite in repelling of creeping aggression from the hostile military block!
Chairman of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation
Gennady Zyuganov