ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) -- Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry claimed ownership Wednesday of six Soviet-era fighter jets aboard a cargo jet that was detained in Azerbaijan last week.
The massive An-124 plane, carrying six disassembled MiG-21s, stopped in Baku, Azerbaijan, to refuel last Thursday after taking off from a town in Kazakhstan, according to Azerbaijani news agencies. Customs officials refused to allow it to leave after they discovered the MiGs on board.The Azerbaijani authorities suspected it was going to Yugoslavia, which is under an international arms embargo. The crew said it was bound for North Korea. And Russia said its destination was Slovakia.
Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev said Wednesday that Kazakstan signed a contract in 1998 to sell the six MiG-21s to a Czech company called Agroplast and that the contract stipulated the planes be delivered to the Czech city of Liberec.
He said the planes aboard the cargo ship were leftovers from the Soviet army that could not be used in combat and would be used to train pilots.
Tokayev speculated that the cargo plane had been stopped "for technical reasons."