Krasnov called the risks of illegally importing weapons from the special operation zone high

There remain high risks of illegal weapons proliferation, including from the special operation zone in Ukraine, stated Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov at a meeting of the joint board of prosecutors’ offices of Russia and Belarus.

“There remain high risks of illegal movement and proliferation of weapons, including those imported from the zone of a special military operation. The activities of cross-border criminal communities are being transformed, which are increasingly using modern information and communication technologies to commit crimes,” the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office quotes him as saying.

For a year and a half, prosecutors, Krasnov noted, identified more than 37,000 violations in the field of illegal arms trafficking, and 9,000 officials from law enforcement and regulatory agencies were brought to disciplinary and administrative liability. The courts satisfied over 5,000 prosecutors’ claims to terminate the right to purchase and bear arms. In total, during this period, more than 8,000 weapons were seized from illegal circulation.

Separately, the Prosecutor General highlighted the impersonal illegal sale of weapons via the Internet using traffic encryption and the active use of cryptocurrencies. In this regard, it is necessary to take urgent measures to suppress existing and new channels of weapons proliferation.

Krasnov also spoke about the suppression of 22,900 crimes related to illegal border crossing, organizing illegal migration, fictitious registration of foreign citizens, etc. in the first half of 2023. This happens, among other things, due to the spread of such services on the network – at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office Roskomnadzor blocked over 7,500 sites with offers to purchase fake documents. Against this background, further strengthening of control over migration processes is necessary, the Prosecutor General emphasized.

Earlier today FSB reported on the suppression of the work of 42 clandestine weapons workshops over the past two months and the withdrawal of 52 firearms from circulation. In total, the FSB, together with the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard, stopped the criminal activities of 119 people in 38 regions; searches were carried out, including in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

As Vedomosti previously wrote, the chairman of the information policy committee and ex-adviser to the head of the Russian Guard, Alexander Khinshtein, announced the introduction of a bill that would allow Viktor Zolotov’s department to create its own state information system (GIS) in the areas of arms trafficking, private security activities and private security. Experts interviewed noted that increased gun control is associated with a special military operation.