Weapons sent to Ukraine end up on the black market – Putin – RT Russia and the former Soviet Union
The Russian president has warned that portable air defense systems and high-precision weapons could fall into the wrong hands
Western weapons entering Ukraine have started to end up on black markets, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday during a meeting with heads of security and special services of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. .
The Russian leader called on the participants of the meeting to strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism efforts and noted that there was « serious challenges » posed by the emerging black arms markets in Ukraine.
Putin claimed that « cross-border criminal groups » were actively involved in the smuggling of weapons to other regions and that it was not only small firearms. « There is a continuing risk of criminals seizing more powerful weapons, including man-portable air defense systems and precision weapons. »
The president’s statement comes after Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, warned last month that corrupt Ukrainian officials had established channels to deliver Western-supplied weapons to the global black market. .
Meanwhile, top Western military officials have admitted that it is nearly impossible to effectively track where the billions of dollars in arms delivered to Ukraine really end up. Pentagon Inspector General Sean O’Donnell told Bloomberg in August there was almost no loyalty because Ukrainians were still using paper. « received by hand » to trace the supplied weapons.
CBS News also reported that approximately 70% of the weapons supplied to Ukraine never reach the front lines because they must pass through a network of « the lords of power, the oligarchs and the political actors ».
“There is really no information on where they are going,” Donatella Rovera, senior crisis adviser at Amnesty International, told the outlet, adding that he was « really disturbing » that the countries supplying these weapons do not consider it necessary to put in place strong monitoring mechanisms.
However, CBS was later pressured to pull the documentary and change the story after the channel was accused of broadcasting « Russian propaganda ». Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podoliak insisted that there was « no proof » that weapons entering the country were not counted.
Ukraine has insisted that an uninterrupted flow of Western weapons is key to the country’s survival on the battlefield. Russia, meanwhile, has repeatedly warned that pumping kyiv with weapons will only prolong the conflict.
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