Russians ground Polish military plane en route to NATO exercise

AP Worldstream
Sep 14, 2004

A Polish military plane carrying soldiers and weapons to Azerbaijan
for a NATO exercise was grounded in southern Russia following a mix-up
over its transit permit, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

The plane, carrying 15 soldiers, ammunition and weapons, was detained
late Monday in Rostov-on-Don and prevented from proceeding to Baku,
Azerbaijan, Col. Zdzislaw Gnatowski said.

Gnatowski said that, although the plane had received permission
from Moscow to transport soldiers and weapons through Russia, that
information apparently had not been forwarded to local officials
in Rostov-on-Don.

Officials’ efforts to sort out the mix-up were overtaken by NATO’s
scrapping the planned exercise, part of the alliance’s “Partnership
for Peace” program, after Azerbaijan rejected a request by neighboring
Armenia to participate.

Gnatowski said the plane was expected to return to Poland on Wednesday.