Envoy clears the air, denies Udayanga hiding in Russia

MiG deal, killing in Rostov-on-Don

By Shamindra Ferdinando-December 5, 2016, 10:08 pm 

Russian Ambassador in Colombo Alexander A. Karchava, yesterday said one-time Sri Lankan Ambassador in Moscow Udayanga Weeratunga was not involved in the killing of a Sri Lankan in Rostov-on-Don on June 11, 2014.

The Ambassador was responding to a query at a media briefing at the Russian Embassy at Bauddhaloka Mawatha.

Ambassador Karchava pointed out that a Russian national had been found guilty of killing Sri Lankan Noel Ranaweera, who had been attached to the Sri Lankan mission in Moscow. The diplomat said that another Russian had been found guilty of shooting a junior Sri Lankan diplomat on the same day.

After the change of government in January 2015, a fresh inquiry was ordered into the killing.

There had been a fight between Sri Lankans and the Russians hired by the embassy to transport the baggage of a visiting Sri Lankan delegation, Ambassador Karchava said.

Asked whether Russia had been protecting fugitive Weeratunga wanted in Sri Lanka in connection with an alleged corrupt deal to acquire MiGs from Russia during the war, an apparently amused Ambassador Karchava pointed out that Sri Lanka had bought aircraft from Ukraine. The Ambassador said that Weeratunga also had been Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Kiev though he was based in Moscow.

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) is currently probing the aforesaid alleged aircraft transaction.

The Katunayake-based MiG 27 No 12 squadron played a pivotal role in the combined forces campaign against the LTTE with several hundred successful sorties in the Northern region during the final three-year phase of the war. Sri Lanka acquired MiG 27s in 2000 to back multi role Kfirs.

Ambassador Karchava asserted that no country would punish its own citizens for crimes committed by others. Ambassador Karchava strongly denied assertion that Weeratunga was in Russia.

At the conclusion of the media briefing, The Island sought a comment from Ambassador Karchava as regards Weeratunga having to explain the circumstances under which Sri Lanka had acquired MiGs. Declining to be drawn on the issue Ambassador recalled that Weeratunga had over the phone explained his plight to him early this year.

The Ambassador said that the Russian now serving a jail term had purposely run over the victim following a dispute over the payment for the services rendered. The Russians had asked for much more than the agreed amount, the Ambassador said, assuring that Russian authorities had acted promptly in the wake of the incident.