grizzled, I was there during the 2004 time period supporting the UN. So I do know what I am talking about. When I got there the UN had 5 on contract and before I left, only one was operating, even though the operator's contract still had over a year to go. On two occasions we were alerted to conduct a search for one of the UN Mi8's. The UN operations and safety people that I dealt with were not Westerners. There were from Latin and South America and the Middle East. A majority of them were from military services that operated Russian helicopters. And they still don't like them. The UN accounts love them because the operators are bidding them at 1/2 to 1/3 of what a western helicopter will go for. I know this because I have been shown the bid results after the contracts were awarded. However, the UN generally pays for the fuel and crew accommodations.
Each person's experience may be different. I have dealt with Russian aircraft in many parts of the world, all with Russian, Ukraine and Belarus crews and maintenance. Plus I have flown on some these aircraft. I saw and heard nothing that gave me the warm and fuzzys. The guys over at Dyncorp that operates a MI8 and a MI17 in Afghanistan have had no maintenance problems over all. But they use their own mechanics and maintain it to their standards. What they told me was that they change a component the instant they start having problems with it. Their comments were that the machine was a maintenance and fuel hog. And that it was designed to maintained with a sledgehammer. The machine was designed to Russian military standards, in that components were not designed to be overhauled, just pulled and replaced.