The Russian Embassy in Colombia has warned that Russia can go to international arbitration against the Colombian Ministry of Defense in relation to maintenance contracts for Russian MI-17 helicopters in the service of the army. In October 2023, the Colombian Ministry of Defense justified the lack of maintenance due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US blockade of Russia and disagreements with the contract with the Russian company National Aviation Services Company (NASC SA). In the middle, a maintenance contract was signed that would amount to 100 million dollars and the American offer to purchase the aircraft for 300 million for shipment to Ukraine.
The Russian Embassy has made use of a “Right of Petition” to the Government in which it states that: “According to the contractual conditions, the Russian side can initiate international arbitration against the Ministry as a dispute resolution mechanism. However, in our view, the parties have not yet exhausted the possibility of resolving problematic issues through constructive dialogue to provide a solution to the current situation of helicopter inoperability.”
The Russian representatives have defended their position – the deadline for the inspection of the aerial vehicles ended on November 30, 2023 – arguing that the maintenance of the helicopters has not been carried out because the devices have not been delivered for repair, and that it may resort to international arbitration due to Colombia’s refusal to inspect the helicopters (see “Russian Government insists that Gustavo Petro’s administration has prevented the maintenance of MI-17 helicopters”, Cambio, País, 05/21/2024).
According to Russia, the contracts have not been officially suspended but due to the unilateral decision of the Ministry of Defense “they are not in execution and were suspended since May 2022 by bilateral signature, but it was only a review of the ‘geopolitical conditions’.”
Aircraft maintenance must be done every 2,000 flight hours and according to the Russian Embassy: “Due to the decision of the Ministry of Defense, Nasc SA has not been able to provide the maintenance services signed in the years 2021 and 2022 to any helicopter” (see “Russian Embassy wants to ‘settle the helicopter contract’ with Colombia”, Red+, 05/21/2024).
The cost of putting the helicopters back into operation would amount to 100 million dollars, according to Defense information published by the Colombian press, and in the contracts, signed decades ago, it was contemplated that the maintenance of the helicopters could only be carried out by Russia (see “Videos prove that more than 10 Russian helicopters are parked in an Army hangar; Colombia would be entering an air crisis”, Semana, 03/09/2024).
To aggravate the situation, at the end of March it was revealed to the press that the United States had offered Colombia 300 million dollars for the MI17 to later send them to Ukraine.
