The tape at the centre of the row, recorded in summer 2000, has the head of the Ukrainian arms exports agency, Valery Malev, proposing to ship four Kolchuga radar systems to a Jordanian intermediary in falsely labelled crates, and to send installation experts to Iraq on false passports.
Switching on radar, or an anti-aircraft gun firing a single salvo, now brings down a hail of bombs on anything deemed threatening, from command bunkers to radar stations, and even anti-ship missiles.