Polish made GROM missile launcher

The US and Russia discussed the discovery of Polish made GROM missiles in Chechnya in 2008 which Moscow claimed had been transferred from Georgia, new cables from Wikileaks reveal.

In late 2008, the Moscow-based Izvestia newspaper reported that army personnel had found GROM (thunder) man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADS) in Chechnya, which they claimed had come from Georgia following the Russian-Georgian war.

During the war, Georgia is thought to have purchased 100 Grom AA missiles and 30 launchers, delivered to Tbilisi at the request of the then Polish president, Lech Kaczynski.

It was suggested by Russian media that Georgia had been supplying Chechen rebels with Polish made weapons.

Washington discussed the development with Moscow following a US-Russian summit in July 2009, where they discussed non-proliferation measures in the region.

A cable dated 6 August 2009, remarks that at the summit, “the Russian side again requested U.S. help preventing the spread of MANPADS in the Caucasus, in particular information on Polish-supplied MANPADS to Georgia that were discovered in Chechnya following the August 2008 conflict. In response to our non-paper on the subject, the Russian MFA informed us it had begun a dialogue with the Polish government.”

The Izvestia article claimed that on 14 August 2008 a missile had been fired at Russian aircraft when it flew over Itum-Kale in Chechnya but missed the target. On 10 October, Russian Special Forces found one used and another intact Polish GROM missile launching sites. (pg)

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