Russia accused Ukraine of selling Kh-55 cruise missiles to China and Iran - six to each country. The charge was made by the minister of defense, Sergei Ivanov, who claimed he knows the name of the company that made the transfer. Ukraine denied the charges, but some questions remain.

First, Ukraine itself launched an investigation into the alleged sale about a year ago. If that investigation discovered nothing one would expect Ukraine to say something about it.

Another problem is that the numbers do not quite add up - it is not clear where these twelve missiles could have come from. I hope that the current round of the dispute will eventually produce some reliable information on the number of missiles.