KIEV, June 6 – Thailand continues to increase its purchases of military equipment from Ukraine and is preparing a contract for the purchase of a large batch of Ukrainian BTR-3E1 armored personnel carriers for its army.

As Interfax-Ukraine learned at the state-owned company Ukrspecexport, as a result of the recent tests in Thailand of the first batch of new Ukrainian BTR-3E1 armored personnel carriers supplied under a contract with a Thai military agency, the government of the Kingdom of Thailand decided to purchase an additional batch of 121 BTR-3E1s for the Royal Thai Army.

"A relevant contract is expected to be signed by the end of June 2011. The contract's details are currently being agreed," the company said.