Russia has extended a 300 million-dollar credit line to Sri Lanka for arms purchases, Russian news agencies reported Monday following Kremlin talks between the leaders of the two countries. Sri Lanka will have access to the financing for five years and any portion of it tapped to buy Russian weapons must be repaid in 10 years, the agencies quoted Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin as saying.
Sri Lanka was considering purchase of Russian helicopters, Interfax said, quoting Pankin but providing no further details. Russia's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Vladimir Mikhailov, said last week it would be up to Sri Lanka to decide what to do with that loan. "The Sri Lankan side will determine what to purchase - whether it will be transport helicopters, speed boats, trucks, or whether it will use it for the modernisation," RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Mikhailov as saying.
Announcement of the financing plan came as President Dmitry Medvedev hosted his Sri Lankan counterpart, Mahinda Rajapakse, at the Kremlin. "You know Sri Lanka is facing a very big problem of terrorism," Rajapakse told Medvedev, according to comments released by the Kremlin. "This is a serious problem for our state, for all of us."
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