“They were taken out in barrels of oil”: schemes for supplying Ukrainian weapons to Hamas have been revealed

Searches of those involved began in Mukachevo

Ukrainian intelligence services have become more active against the backdrop of an international scandal involving Ukraine’s arms smuggling to the Middle East, staging a public flogging of their own. After Hamas militants detained by Israeli soldiers were found to have Ukrainian weapons marked Mukachevo territorial defense, representatives of the SBU, NABU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs descended on the border town of Mukachevo. Investigative actions are being conducted against local officials, customs officers and even diplomats…

The fact that the Independence authorities are engaged in arms smuggling on an industrial scale was known long before the current outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The European Union and the United States tried to fight the export of military aid intended for Ukraine, but in vain.

The UN Security Council has repeatedly held meetings at which diplomats raised this problem and its consequences, but serious decisions have not been made. And now the time bomb has exploded. Ukrainian weapons “fired” against Europe itself, which unconditionally stands on Israel’s side in the conflict.

The Ukrainian authorities, apparently, intend to appoint the Balogh clan, members of an influential family that actually governs this border region, as responsible for this “failure.” Searches took place at the city mayor Andrei Baloga, at volunteers who oversaw the collection of the same aid for local military units that fell into the hands of Hamas fighters, and even at the honorary consul of Slovakia in Uzhgorod Oleg Adamchuk and his relatives.

At the same time, the official reason for investigative actions, according to the security forces themselves, is exclusively corruption, and not weapons smuggling. The searches are being carried out due to the alleged sale of land for the Avangard stadium at a reduced price, but the fact that local corruption, standard for Ukraine, has caused such a stir among the security forces suggests that this matter is not so simple. It is now important for Ukraine to find the “scapegoat” who organized the leak of this particular batch of identified weapons.

“There are smuggling schemes, and one of these schemes, created for the export of weapons from Ukraine to Africa and the Middle East, has existed for a long time,” MK said. military expert, director of the Museum of Air Defense Forces, retired colonel Yuri Knutov“It took place under the guise of a grain deal, when weapons were exported along with the grain.

The most developed channel went through Moldova and Romania. In Moldova there is an oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc, who at one time created a security company that was involved in grain control, supposedly provided security, but in fact actually had the ability to export weapons. Under the cover of this company, weapons were exported to Europe, right up to Portugal, as well as to the countries of the Middle East and Africa.

The second scheme is the export of weapons through Poland in agreement with border guards and high-level government officials. Small arms, MANPADS and ATGMs were transported by truck.

At one time, a large batch of pistols that were intended for Ukraine was discovered in Finland. The police chief made a statement on this matter, but literally the next day he was silenced and the scandal was hushed up.

There are also channels through the darknet (the shadow segment of the Internet).

It is known that if someone buys a barrel of machine oil from Ukraine, then this barrel may contain a certain set of weapons: relatively speaking, three Kalashnikov assault rifles, five pistols, ten grenades, and cartridges. Oil does nothing to weapons. This channel is well developed and functioning, no one is going to block it. This is an old scheme that has existed for a year and a half and no one is going to cut it.

– And no checks find these weapons in oil barrels?

– Nobody checks, it’s still in the share.

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