Russian specialists in Slovakia may have deliberately damaged MiG-29s, which they have now decided to transfer to Ukraine

The MiG-29 aircraft, which were previously in service with the Slovak army and are now being transferred to Ukraine, have been found to have engine problems. Russian technicians, who were present at the Sliač airbase in Slovakia until last year, could have deliberately damaged the fighter jets.

This was stated by Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad', Euractiv reports.

MiG-29s are Soviet-made multi-role fighters. They were transferred to the Slovak army after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993 and have not been used by the Slovak army since August 2022.

"They could fly, but that doesn't mean they were capable of combat. The Ukrainians came to Slovakia a week before the departure, brought spare parts and inspected the planes," Nad' explained after the opposition criticised the government for abandoning the valuable aircraft.

Nad'  suggested that the breakdowns could have been deliberately caused by Russian technicians who were present at the Sliač airbase in Slovakia until last year.

"Even the police were investigating this on our suspicions. There were parts in the aircraft's engines that Slovak technicians had access to, and there were parts that only Russian technicians had access to. The defects appeared only in the parts that the Russians had access to," Nad' said.

Despite the fact that the investigation did not prove the guilt of the Russian technicians, the Slovak Ministry of Defence said that it "felt a loss of confidence in the Russian technicians in Sliač". After all, malfunctions continue to appear where only Russian experts had access.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Slovakia approved the transfer of MiG-29 fighters and Kub air defence systems to Ukraine. On March 17, the government decided to transfer the equipment free of charge in accordance with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic.