Spain seeks answers for Israel's drone gift to Russia

Madrid:  Spain said Friday it had requested clarification from Israel after its agriculture minister gifted visiting Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev a Spanish-made drone without the necessary authorisation.

Earlier this month, as Medvedev visited an Israeli agricultural research centre, Uri Ariel gave him the drone used for crop inspections in an apparently spontaneous, unexpected gesture -- a move only allowed if Spain agrees, due to the sensitive nature of the product.

The gift, which may have contained technology not meant to be shared, comes as tensions are high between the West and Russia over the war in Syria and the Ukraine conflict.

Medvedev willingly accepted the helicopter drone made by Spanish company Alpha Unmanned Systems, which its chief executive Eric Freeman said sells for 50,000 euros ($53,000).

A spokesman for Spain's foreign ministry told AFP the sale to Israel's Volcani Centre came complete with "an export licence in which this centre is listed as the final user".

The licence, according to the spokesman, also "stipulates that it is expressly forbidden to cede the equipment to third parties without the prior consent of Spanish authorities."

"Spain's government was not asked for this authorisation," he said, adding that the foreign ministry had sent an official note to Israel's embassy in Madrid "seeking clarifications on the issue."

Ariel's ministry earlier this month issued a statement acknowledging that the drone was given to Medvedev, but said the gift had been approved by "the relevant professional officials".

Freeman's firm sold two such gasoline-powered helicopter drones, which the Volcani Centre fitted with cameras made by an American firm.

It is unclear, though, whether Medvedev received the drone with or without its remote control or thermal camera, with Haaretz newspaper reporting that staff at the centre had refused to give the components away.

According to Freeman, the cameras -- not the drones -- have potentially sensitive technology.

But his company's helicopters can also be put to military or police use, for surveillance tasks.

- Gift 'surprised everybody' -

Ariel's decision was "completely spontaneous," Freeman said.

"It surprised everybody, especially the people at the Volcani Centre, who after a long wait of getting all the necessary approvals, had finally just got the OK to fly this.

"They have two of them, and one of them has just been given away as a gift."

Israel's agriculture ministry said it would quickly purchase a new drone to replace it -- though some pointed out that this would have to come at taxpayers' expense.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel called for Ariel to pay for the drone from his own pocket, while opposition politicians slammed Ariel's largesse.

Nachman Shai of the opposition Zionist Union said the minister, from the far-right Jewish Home party, had been duped into handing "knowledge and technologies to the wrong countries."

Stav Shaffir, a lawmaker also from the Zionist Union, called for Ariel's resignation.

Israel's embassy in Madrid was not immediately available for comment.