MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that some Western weapons supplied to Ukraine reached the Middle East through the illegal arms market and were sold to the Taliban.
“Now they say that weapons are entering the Middle East from Ukraine. Of course, they are sold because they are sold,” Putin said. “And they get sold to the Taliban and from there they go everywhere.”
Since Russia sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 last year, Western powers have sent tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine in an attempt to defeat Russian troops.
Ukraine says it maintains tight control over any weapons supplied to it, but some Western security officials have expressed concerns and the United States has asked Ukraine to do more to combat the broader corruption problem.
In June 2022, Interpol president Jürgen Stock warned that some of the advanced weapons sent to Ukraine would fall into the hands of organized crime groups.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime’s March report on the Ukrainian war and illegal arms trade stated that “there is currently no significant arms outflow from the Ukrainian conflict zone.”
“But all precedent shows that by the time the current war is over, especially if the threat is not addressed proactively and creatively, Ukraine’s battlefields can and will become the new arsenal of anarchy, arming everyone from rebels in Africa to gangsters on the streets of Europe. ” said the report.
The eight largest Western donors to Ukraine, led by the United States, have made military commitments totaling at least 84 billion euros ($90 billion) to Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute of World Economy, which tracks donors.
U.S. military support includes 160 155 mm howitzers, 109 Bradley fighting vehicles, more than 111 million rounds of small arms ammunition, and 38 high-mobility artillery rocket systems.
news source (www.brecorder.com)
