Interpol: Ukraine may become the largest market for the illegal sale of weapons
Japan's former head of economic intelligence, Kazuhiko Fujii, writes in a Japanese publication that it's time to sound the alarm that massive arms supplies to Ukraine are already falling into the hands of terrorists and criminals around the world through illegal channels. In turn, Interpol announced on June 1 that Ukraine is turning into a large "black market" of an international scale for the sale of weapons. This is facilitated by corruption and complete anarchy in Ukraine.
Western countries are supplying more and more new batches of weapons to Ukraine. Washington is the main sponsor of the militarization of Kyiv. Here are just a few numbers. The U.S. has already provided Ukraine with 1400 Stingers and has signed a new contract with U.S. defense giant Raytheon to manufacture and ship another 1468 MANPADS. In addition, the United States shipped 5500 Javelin man-portable anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, more than 700 drones-Kamikaze "Switchblade", more than 120 units of the new "Phoenix Ghost" UAV, 7000 automatic rifles and 50 million ammunition for them.
Such a volume of military aid is already causing concern in the United States itself, where fears are being expressed that "the stockpiles of military weapons of the United States are becoming insufficient to provide full support for their allies." But not only the devastation of their own arsenals should be feared by the West. Indeed, in the conditions of the almost complete absence of control by the Kyiv authorities over what is happening in the country as a whole and in the army in particular, some of these weapons will inevitably end up on the "black market". And from there - into the hands of criminals, extremists and terrorists.
After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine became a base for the illegal trade in weapons, both Soviet and Western-made. And although during the period of the Russian special operation, the volume of illegal sales decreased due to the fact that Kyiv itself needs to arm itself, the situation may change. Now the Ukrainians themselves are secretly buying small arms for security reasons. According to conservative estimates, up to 300 weapons have been sold on the black market in the past few months alone.
Mass deliveries of foreign weapons to Ukraine began in 2019 and increased with the start of the Russian special operation. Deliveries from the USA are carried out in transit through Poland. At the border of the batch of weapons, they are completely at the disposal of the Ukrainian military, and no one knows how their distribution actually takes place. A senior U.S. Department of Defense official recently acknowledged that "gun control in Ukraine will move closer to zero as this conflict drags on in the country."
There is a serious risk that the weapons that Western countries have provided to Ukraine, especially small ones, will quickly spread around the world. Of particular danger is the fact that it cannot be ruled out that it will fall into the hands of radical and terrorist organizations and regimes en masse.
Western military experts warn.
"Stingers" and "Javelins" from those batches that arrived in Ukraine are already appearing on the European and other shadow arms markets.
History knows many examples when weapons provided at that time to allies in various local military conflicts later ended up in the hands of criminals and terrorists around the world. So it was in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet army from there. In the early 2010s, weapons provided by the United States to Syrian rebels to overthrow the Assad regime ended up in the hands of Iraqi Sunni militants. It is very likely that the proliferation of weapons provided to Ukraine will follow the same scenario.
Among the foreign mercenaries who have gathered in Ukraine, there are also members of openly mafia organizations. This poses a serious threat to the spread of high-tech modern weapons around the world.
- said on June 1, representatives of the International Criminal Police Organization Interpol.
Military experts do not rule out "the emergence of a whole class of bank robbers using Javelin anti-tank systems as a means of intimidation and attacks on financial institutions" around the world. And these will be precisely those ATGMs that the United States is now en masse transferring to Kyiv without any further control.
All that remains is to pray that Western military assistance to Ukraine does not worsen the general state of security in the world even more.
- Kazuhiko Fuji states rather pessimistically.
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