The Iranian regime closed an agreement with Russia to acquire Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jetsin a new step in the deepening of their military and economic relations.
“Sukhoi Su-35 fighters are technically acceptable to Iran. Iran has decided to buy them”, the Iranian mission to the United Nations (UN) said in a statement, according to Iranian media.
Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran has not had access to purchase new fighters for its Air Force, which uses old russian migs and American F-5swho suffer continuous accidents.
“Russia has stated that it is ready to sell them”, after the UN Security Council embargo on arms sales to Iran (resolution 2231) expired in October, according to the statement.
Iranian authorities have not indicated how many Sukhoi Su-35s they will acquire or when they will receive them.
Relations between Iran and Russia have strengthened in the past yearsince the invasion of Ukraine, on economic and political issues, but also military.
While economic relations between the two countries increased, Tehran has sold drones to Russiawhich it has used in its invasion of Ukraine, according to Western allegations, something that Tehran denies.
At the end of January, Tehran and Moscow signed an agreement to connect their banking systems with a system similar to the SWIFT interbank payment system, from which Iranian and partially Russian financial institutions are excluded.
With this agreement, the two countries seek evade economic sanctions they face and which limit their international business activities.
In another vein, UN experts warned about the “alarming” recruitment of prisoners in Russian jails by the wagner groupa Kremlin-affiliated mercenary organization, using tactics that violate human rights and endanger their individual liberties.
“We are deeply concerned by reports of visits by members of the so-called Wagner Group to penal institutions in various regions of Russia.offering pardons for criminal sentences to prisoners who join the Group and participate in the war in Ukraine, in addition to making monthly payments to their families,” the experts explained in a statement.
The Group of mercenaries would have allegedly recruited both Russian citizens and foreigners serving sentences in Russia, and would use pressure techniques to do so, through threats and intimidationfor example by preventing prisoners from speaking with their families and lawyers.
“We have information that several recruits have been executed for trying to escape and, in other cases, have been seriously injured. as a warning to other prisoners,” the experts added. “These tactics constitute violations of Human Rights and could be war crimes.”.
They also reported that the recruited prisoners would have been transferred to a center in Rostov, a Russian region very close to the Ukrainian border, to be trained before their transfer to the front. In addition, they would have introduced them into Ukraine without being in possession of their identification documents and having signed a “contract” with the Group.
“We are particularly concerned that the Wagner Group has extended recruitment to prisons in the Donetsk region of Ukraine”, continues the statement, which details that the activities carried out by these prisoners would range from participating directly in the armed conflict to the reconstruction of infrastructures in the territories under Russian control.
The UN experts call on the international community, as well as Russia, to remember that “States have an obligation to prohibit individuals and companies from exploiting the vulnerability of prisoners for their own benefit.”
(With information from EFE, Europa Press and Reuters)
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Source-www.infobae.com