"Lviv Arsenal had a license to import weapons from the State Special Export Agency: why it matters

The Lviv Arsenal company, which is involved in criminal proceedings for failing to deliver 100,000 mortar rounds to the Ministry of Defense, had a license to import weapons from the State Export Control Service of Ukraine. In order to obtain such a document, it is necessary to pass a number of checks, UNN reports .

Details

It should be noted that obtaining such a permit is not easy. According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, a Ukrainian company must submit an array of documents and undergo a series of inspections. In particular, the application for authorization to export or import arms and the documents that the company sends to the State Export Control Service are also reviewed by the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, the intelligence agencies of Ukraine and, if necessary, other central executive authorities.

A number of factors are taken into account when reviewing an application from a company, including its activities in the international market over the previous three years and the absence of any evidence of violations of the law, including export control, by it or its officials.

In other words, the State Export Control Committee decides to prepare a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on granting a company the authority to export/import arms or a conclusion on the inexpediency of granting it such authority only if there is information from the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, other central executive authorities involved in its consideration, as well as the Security Service and the intelligence agencies of Ukraine.

As you can see, the inspection of a company when obtaining a license is quite strict, and therefore the Ministry of Defense, when signing a contract with Lviv Arsenal, had no reason to doubt the reliability of this company.

Add

When purchasing ammunition for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, specialty importers assume guarantees for the fulfillment of these contracts. According to military expert Serhiy Zgurts, the intermediary company that signs the contract is responsible for the supply of a particular weapon.

In other words, Lviv Arsenal, having signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense as a special importer of weapons, undertook to guarantee its fulfillment and was supposed to receive a 3% commission. But the contract has not yet been fulfilled.

As it has become known, the license of Lviv Arsenal has now expired, so the company has appealed to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to help resolve the situation with the supply of mortar rounds that were purchased under a contract with the Defense Ministry and are now in Slovakia.

Recall

Back in the fall of 2022, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and Lviv Arsenal signed a contract for the supply of 100,000 mortar rounds worth almost UAH 1.4 billion. The contractor for the supply of ammunition from the Elmech plant in Croatia was the Slovakian company SEVOTECH, represented by Oleksiy Khoroshayev.

The first batch of ammunition was supposed to be delivered to Ukraine on December 20, 2022, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine have not yet received the ammunition under this contract. The Ministry of Defense has tried to recover the funds, but has not yet been able to do so, as most of them - UAH 818 million - have been arrested in the accounts of Lviv Arsenal as part of criminal proceedings. The other part of the funds - 30% of the amount transferred by the Ministry of Defense to the accounts of Lviv Arsenal - was transferred abroad by the Ukrainian company as an advance payment.

SEVOTECH representative Oleksiy Khoroshayev told UNN in an interview that the company had purchased mortar rounds for the Defense Ministry under a contract with Lviv Arsenal for the amount of prepayment sent by the Ukrainian company. According to him, these mortar rounds are available and ready to be shipped to Ukraine. His words were confirmed by documents provided by the lawyers of former Defense Ministry official Oleksandr Liev during the court hearing on March 15. They were also confirmed by SEVOTECH's appeals to the Lviv Arsenal, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking them to take back the mortar rounds.

The editorial board of UNN has analyzed the chronology of the signing of the contract between the Ministry of Defense and Lviv Arsenal.