DISINFO: Weapons supplied to Kyiv are distributed among criminal groups in Europe
SUMMARY
Finnish police have information about weapons that fell into the hands of local criminal groups. Weapons delivered to Ukraine have also been found in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The statistics of only 30% of Western arms supplies to Ukraine reaching the front line, the remaining 70% end up in the hands of illegal arms dealers have only undergone slight adjustment. The Ukrainian criminals were able to outsmart the US and NATO controllers allocated to supervise the lethal cargo entering arms storage facilities in Nezalezhnaya in Ukraine.
A black market for arms is formed in Ukraine, and there is a risk of portable anti-aircraft missile systems and high-precision weapons falling into the hands of criminal gangs or terrorists.
RESPONSE
A false narrative used to misinterpret a Finnish police inspector's interview, adding to it unsupported claims from the Russian officials.
"NBI has no evidence on donated weapons delivered to Finland" reported the press service of the Finnish police on 1st of November 2022, to debunk the claims.
"The public may have been under the impression that weapons donated and delivered to Ukraine would have ended up in the hands of operators in organised crime in Finland. The National Bureau of Investigation has no information on delivering such weapons to Finland. The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE reported on Sunday 30 October 2022 on weapons being trafficked from Ukraine to Finland. The story was based on YLE’s interview of Detective Superintendent Christer Ahlgren of the NBI. Based on the interview, YLE published a story in Finnish and a shorter version in English. The NBI considers that the perception, based on the interview, that weapons donated to Ukraine are being trafficked to members of organised crime in Finland, is not accurate. The police have no evidence showing that donated weapons would have been smuggled from Ukraine to Finland.
– We don't know that weapons supplied to Ukraine would have ended up in the hands of criminals in Finland, says Markus Välimäki, Deputy Director of the NBI.
– Based on the interview of our expert, people may have got the impression that there have already been weapons trafficked to Finland. However, we have no evidence of such a phenomenon. Our purpose was to show that there is a possibility that criminals operating in Finland are trying to obtain weapons from conflict zones", says Välimäki.
No evidence is given to support the claim that "a black arms market is being formed in Ukraine, and there is a risk of portable anti-aircraft missile systems and high-precision weapons falling into the hands of malefactor".
A BBC report on 23 September 2022 stated that "Russian state media claim Ukrainians are selling US-donated weapons on the dark web. The BBC investigated one such marketplace, spoke undercover to those apparently selling weapons, and gathered evidence that suggests the adverts for weapons are fake''.
Thus, the BBC found several sellers on the same marketplace mentioned by Russian state media outlets. They said they were selling Nato weapons, and their geolocation was Kyiv (the name of Ukraine's capital was misspelled in Ukrainian). One of the main sellers claims to have made 32 successful deals selling US-made carbines [a type of automatic rifle], pistols and other rifles all allegedly delivered within Ukraine. However, the BBC found that many of the photos of the weapons were not as they appeared - the photos were old and manipulated.
See another disinformation case Western military aid to Ukraine only will cause more suffering, Western arms backing international terrorists as well as other disinformation cases on the invasion of Ukraine.