Russian diplomat says West turned Ukraine into hub for global arms black market
Yuliya Zhdanova, Russia's chief delegate to Vienna security talks, claimed illicit weapons trade in Ukraine is now controlled by organized crime groups.
Russia's chief delegate to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Yuliya Zhdanova, said the West has turned Ukraine into a hub for the global black market in weapons.
Zhdanova told the talks that the illicit trade in Western weaponry and military hardware in Ukraine is now, in her words, fully controlled by Ukrainian and international organized crime groups.
The claim was made by the Russian delegate in the context of ongoing discussions on military security and arms control involving multiple states in Vienna.
Ukraine and its Western allies have previously rejected similar Russian claims about weapons diversion, and there was no immediate response from Kyiv to Zhdanova's remarks as reported.
The statement reflects Moscow's continued messaging around the flow of Western-supplied weapons to Ukraine since the start of the war.
Sources
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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