No smuggling of weapons from the territory of Ukraine - National Police

No smuggling of weapons from the territory of Ukraine - National Police

Kyiv  •  UNN

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Vadim Dzyubinsky, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the NPU, said that no confirmed cases of smuggling of military-style weapons from Ukraine to the EU were recorded; seizures at the border with the EU were isolated and related to non-military firearms.

There is not a single fact of confirmed smuggling of military-style weapons from the territory of Ukraine. This was announced by the head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the NPU, third-rank police general Vadim Dzyubinsky during the discussion of the study "black market of weapons", the correspondent of UNN reports.

On Monday-Tuesday, we had an international meeting in Lviv with representatives of both law enforcement agencies of other states and representatives of international organizations, where we once again received confirmed information from them that there is not a single fact of confirmed smuggling of military-style weapons from the territory of Ukraine on the territory of the European Union 

- Dzyubinsky said.

Details

He noted that there are certainly isolated cases of seizure of firearms at the border with the EU.

 "But these are not military-style weapons, and most of them are designed for shooting from rubber bullets, and these are the weapons that citizens tried to take out most of all for self-defense. These are isolated facts, there is no systemic nature. There is no smuggling of weapons from the territory of Ukraine," Dzyubinsky said.

He also commented on the illegal circulation of weapons on the territory of Ukraine.

"All law enforcement agencies of the state understand the adequate risks that we face now and that we may face after the end of the war. We understand that the number of weapons currently in the state may become a certain percentage of illegal circulation. That is why the fight against illegal arms trafficking is a priority area for the work of all law enforcement agencies of the state," Dzyubinsky said.

According to him, since the beginning of 2023,  4 793 firearms have been withdrawn from illegal circulation by the National Police, including 1 424 automatic weapons, 922 rifled weapons. 16 962 grenades were also seized.

Read also: a man who threw a grenade at people was detained in Kiev

Russia creates a strategic narrative that Ukraine is in principle a "black market" and an allegedly unreliable partner. In this regard, Kiev should work as hard as possible, because the Russian Federation will continue to develop this narrative.