According to the Latin American press, the issue of choosing battle tanks gave rise to a serious conflict within the armed forces of Peru - between the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Peruvian Armed Forces, General Francisco Contreras, and the head of the ground forces Otto Gibovich. Each of the military leaders has his own favorite - one China, the other Ukraine. In the meantime, the Treasury Department is trying to avoid funding the applications of intractable generals with good reason.
Recall that the previous Minister of Defense of the country, Rafael Ray, postponed the purchase of Chinese tanks due to the need to direct funds for the purchase of dual-use equipment suitable for dealing with the consequences of natural disasters, as well as due to the lack of Ukraine's permission for the re-export of engines and transmissions produced by the Kharkiv design bureau. them. Morozov. After the change of the Minister of Defense, the issue of purchasing tanks is again on the agenda, and the commander-in-chief of the ground forces of Peru, Otto Gibovich, is lobbying for the continuation of negotiations with the Chinese.
According to information from sources in the Peruvian military department, who wished to remain anonymous, representatives of the Chinese company Norinco, the manufacturer of MBT-2000 tanks, visited the country in mid-September. The Chinese allegedly provided Gibovich with some information "on the Ukrainian issue" and persuaded him to buy three tanks at a price of $ 4 million each - the same ones that the Chinese "borrowed" to Peru for a demonstration at a military parade in the country's capital. According to the same source, following the Chinese visit, Otto Gibovich decided to abandon the Ukrainian proposal in favor of the Chinese one.
At the time of publication of these rumors, Gibovich was in Korea, from where, according to sources, he was going to visit China. In the command of the commander-in-chief, the likelihood of Gibovich's personal interest in the contract with the Chinese is rejected.
In the meantime, despite the fact that the procurement of military equipment is not within the competence of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces of Peru, the head of this department, General Francisco Contreras, accepted the invitation of representatives of the KMDB. Morozov to visit Ukraine and attend the tests of the Tifon-2 tank, which is a modernized version of the T-55, developed by the Peruvian company Desarrollos Industriales Casanave de Perú together with the KMDB named after. Morozov. At the end of September, a Peruvian delegation led by Brigadier General Juan Mendiz, head of the logistics department at the OKNSH, visited the test site of the plant named after V. I. Malyshev and KMDB them. Morozov. Upon his return, Mendiz reported to Contreras about his sympathy for the Ukrainian tank (or rather, the Peruvian-Ukrainian one), and the Ukrainian press announced that Peru was ready to buy a batch of these vehicles.
Apparently, trying to prevent a looming scandal, the current Minister of Defense of Peru, Jaime Torne, said in an interview with the Andina news agency that there is no conflict in the country's armed forces, and that the visit of representatives of the Armed Forces to Ukraine cannot be the cause of such a conflict. In addition, the minister said that no one is going to neglect the Chinese proposal, summing up that making a decision on the purchase of military equipment cannot be easy and must be balanced and deliberate so as not to get a pig in a poke.
Nevertheless, all the same unnamed sources note that the defense minister is leaning towards buying Chinese tanks.
While the Peruvian Ministry of Defense cannot find a compromise on the use of the meager funds allocated for the modernization of the country's Armed Forces, which the Minister of Defense is having difficulty getting from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Peruvian generals openly oppose the policy of cutting the defense budget of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and admirals, including former Air Force Commander Felipe Conde Garay. High-ranking military officials have leveled their accusations at the Ministry of Economy and Finance to Expreso, questioning the right of "eternally anti-militarist" financiers to make decisions to cut funding for the defense sector, in which they "understand nothing."
Apparently, now it is worth waiting for counter-accusations to the generals, who earned Peru the fame of one of the most corrupt countries in the region by their specific manner in making difficult decisions about the purchase of three tanks or two helicopters.
