KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – A government probe into lucrative illicit weapons sales by officials loyal to former President Leonid Kuchma has led to secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers accused of selling nuclear-capable missiles to Iran and China, a high-ranking intelligence official said Friday.

The deals with Moscow-allied nations – which violate international nonproliferation treaties – put pressure on Ukraine’s new president to halt the country’s well-established illegal arms trade as he tries to boosts ties with and join NATO and the European Union.

President Viktor Yushchenko has promised to investigate illicit weapons-dealing, including a U.S. allegation that Kuchma approved the sale of a sophisticated Kolchuga radar system to Iraq despite U.N. sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s regime. Kuchma denied the allegations.

Ukraine’s intelligence agency, the State Security Service, launched its investigation of the case involving Iran and China on Feb. 14, 2004, during Kuchma’s presidency. But the probe was not publicized until this week, when lawmaker Hrihoriy Omelchenko – a reserve colonel in the intelligence service – wrote Yushchenko asking him to pursue a full investigation. Omelchenko made his letter available to The Associated Press.

Six missiles purportedly ended up in Iran and another six allegedly went to China, although export documents known as end-user certificates recorded the final recipient of some 20 Kh-55 missiles as “Russia’s Defense Ministry,” according to Omelchenko’s letter. He didn’t say what happened to the eight other missiles.

The missiles allegedly sold to Iran were unarmed, but are designed to carry 200-kiloton nuclear warheads. Western nations have accused Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapons program, an allegation Tehran denies. China is a declared nuclear weapons state.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko and Defense Ministry spokesman, Col. Vyacheslav Sedov, said Ukraine had not informed Russia of the allegations that missiles meant for Moscow had been diverted, and that Moscow would await Ukraine’s investigation. Russia’s state arms export company, Rosoboronexport, declined comment.

Omelchenko’s letter to Yushchenko and another to the prosecutor-general, Svyatoslav Piskun, refer to a Ukrainian Security Service report that includes details of the allegations.

At least three people were arrested and another three were indicted last year in connection with the illicit arms trade – including some of those mentioned by name in the letters – according to the intelligence official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

According to Omelchenko, in 2000 Russian national Oleg Orlov and a Ukrainian partner identified as E.V. Shilenko “exported 20 Kh-55 cruise missiles through a fake contract and end-user certificate” with Russia’s state-run arms dealer and with a firm called Progress, which is a daughter company of Ukrspetseksport – Ukraine’s weapons exporting agency.

Last year, Ukrainian prosecutors indicted Orlov and Shilenko in absentia for illegal weapons trading, the intelligence official said. Orlov was detained on July 13 in the Czech Republic.

There’s an ongoing extradition procedure to return Orlov to Ukraine for possible prosecution, a spokesman for the Czech Justice Ministry, Petr Dimun, confirmed Friday. Dimun said the procedures were interrupted recently because Orlov suffered a stroke and had to be hospitalized, although he’s “recovering well.”

Shilenko remains at large, said Omelchenko, which also notes an attempt on Orlov’s life, saying, “The physical elimination of Orlov in a Czech prison was prevented.”

The State Security Service has also issued an official inquiry about a Cyprus-based Russian identified as G.K. Shkinov, who remains at large. “The law enforcement bodies of that country (Cyprus) are performing an investigation,” Omelchenko wrote.

Three Ukrainians also were detained last year in connection with the deal, and the case was forwarded to a Kiev court, Omelchenko wrote.

Orlov is reputed to be a prominent weapons broker. In its 2001 report, the U.N. Security Council implicated Orlov and his Cyprus and Dubai-based E.M.M. Arab Systems Ltd. company in sanctions-busting related with ferrying weapons and supplies to Angola’s rebel UNITA group.

The Kh-55, known in the West as the AS-15, has a range of 1,860 miles and is designed to carry a nuclear warhead with a 200-kiloton yield. Iran does not operate long-range bombers but it is believed Tehran could adapt its Soviet-built Su-24 strike aircraft to launch the missile. The missile’s range would put Israel and a number of U.S. allies within reach.

Ukrainian weapons dealers ferried missiles to China through a Ukraine-based cargo company run by a former secret service agent, according to Omelchenko. He also said that in 2001, weapons dealers sent ground targeting systems, maintenance equipment and missile technicians to Iran.

Profits from the sales were estimated at $2.1 million or more.

Valery Malev, the head of Kiev’s export agency Ukrspetseksport, has been implicated in the deals. He died in 2002 when his car collided with a truck. Police concluded he fell asleep behind the wheel, but many speculate his car had been tampered with.

“Valery Malev, the head of Ukrspetseksport, knew that missiles were not exported to Russia but to third countries and with forged documents,” Omelchenko wrote.

A multimillion-dollar deal involving sales of oil-processing equipment to Iran was used as a mask for the sales, Omelchenko claims. They add that a Cyprus-based company, S.H. Heritage Holding Ltd., and Iran-based Satak Co. Ltd. were involved in the concealment.

Internet search and telephone inquiries turned up no information about the companies.

S.H. Heritage owner Haider Sarfraz, an Australian national, died in a 2004 car accident, Omelchenko’s letters say. They do not specify where the accident occurred.

Although Ukraine in the 1990s renounced the nuclear armaments it inherited in the breakup of the Soviet Union, the country remains a sizable producer of weapons, including missiles, aircraft and tanks. The country has long been under scrutiny for murky weapons deals.

In 2000, the United States accused Ukraine of selling infantry weapons to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Russia has charged Ukraine with doing the same for Chechen rebels.

Kuchma acknowledged in 2001 that $32 billion worth of Ukrainian military hardware had found its way illegally into international arms markets during the 1990s.

Last year, Ukrainian police arrested four men, from Greece, Pakistan and Iraq, on suspicion of attempted illegal weapons trading and hiring mercenaries in a deal worth more than $800 million for an unspecified force fighting in Iraq.

And in 2004, former Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk warned that several hundred Soviet-built SA-2 surface-to-air missiles brought to Ukraine for decommissioning were unaccounted for.