The Security Service of Ukraine blocked the channel for smuggling spare parts for military equipment across the border of the country, according to the website of the department. In the framework of a criminal case opened earlier on the fact of illegal transit, SBU officers detained an entrepreneur from Lviv and an EU citizen.
As the security service of Ukraine clarifies, during searches at several depots in Lviv, engines, hydraulic shock absorbers and generators for armored vehicles, balancers for BMP-1 and BMP-2, electronic systems for tanks, etc. were found.
The SBU believes that the attackers illegally imported products from "one of the post-Soviet countries" and intended to resell abroad - to states that are armed with "Soviet-style military equipment."
In an interview with RT, columnist for the magazine Arsenal of the Fatherland Dmitry Drozdenko noted that smugglers from the former socialist camp since the collapse of the USSR illegally sell weapons and components for Soviet military equipment.
“Ukraine has long become a participant in this dirty business created on the ruins of a socialist system. Most likely, smuggled spare parts from Lviv were intended for transportation to Africa. However, it cannot be ruled out that some of the components were “laundered” and used for internal needs of Ukraine. The SBU could well be silent about this, covering up someone’s interests, ”Drozdenko argues.
As the expert explained, since 2014 Ukraine has experienced an acute shortage of spare parts for the repair and production of armored vehicles. Smuggling can partially solve this problem.
A similar point of view is shared by the director of the Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Policy Management Ruslan Bortnik.
“About 80% of all armaments of Ukraine is Soviet equipment, which was produced in cooperation with Russia, Belarus and other states. Since there are no normal relations with the post-Soviet republics, and the equipment needs repair, components have to be obtained in a variety of ways, including smuggling, ”Bortnik explained.
Preying on war
RT sources in Ukrainian military circles confirm that "arms smuggling brings good money." Local businessmen use various schemes of illegal trade for enrichment. Most often, products illegally transported to Ukraine are sold to the country's defense enterprises.
“Power is changing, but smuggling remains. Smugglers use different schemes. For example, often spare parts are exported illegally, and then imported back under the guise of new ones. In any case, do not be surprised that military equipment with such details is constantly breaking down. Weapons are already manufactured using old technologies, using used parts as well, ”a former senior official of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine told RT.
- One of the spare parts seized by the SBU in Lviv
- © Security Service of Ukraine
At the end of February last year, the Bihus info portal published an investigation into the thefts of the leaders of Ukroboronprom and the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).
Journalists claim that in 2015-2016, the Deputy First Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleg Gladkovsky (Svinarchuk), his son Igor Gladkovsky, the general director of Ukroboronprom, Pavel Bukin, and a number of other persons organized an illegal scheme for importing parts for the Ukrainian army.
According to reporters, the attackers earned about 250 million hryvnias by selling contraband spare parts to the Ukrainian defense industry with a mark-up of up to 300%. To implement this scheme, three laying companies were used, including the Forge on Rybalsky, which belonged to Petro Poroshenko until September 2018.
The investigation said that some of the smuggling components were supplied from Russia, however, the Kremlin called the journalists’s similar conclusion absurd. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, the turnover of dual-use products in Russia is under special state control.
An interlocutor of RT in the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that a significant flow of contraband military products goes to Ukraine from Eastern Europe, where Soviet military equipment remained. According to him, "everyone who can can try to earn money in the war in the Donbass."
“In the warehouses and armaments of the countries of the former social bloc there is still Soviet-style equipment. This is used by people who profit from war. And I don’t know how President Vladimir Zelensky and the special services intend to deal with this problem, ”he says.
As a source in the Golos party told RT, components illegally imported to Ukraine are often used in the production of “new Ukrainian weapons,” which later turn out to be unsafe to operate.
“The soldiers are simply afraid to use new weapons of Ukrainian production. A very revealing example is the haste of the created mortar "Hammer", which killed several people during the shooting. It is not surprising that conscripts do not want to join the army. There are more chances to get injured in the rear than at the front, ”the politician emphasized.
“Clear signs of marriage”
In addition to smuggling, Ukraine quite legally imports components for outdated Soviet-style armored vehicles. So, in 2018, the delivery of spare parts for 30 BMP-1AK parts to the Polish company Wtorplast caused a great resonance in the country. Armored vehicles were released during the Cold War in Czechoslovakia under the license of the USSR.
After passing through customs, Polish products were sent to the Zhytomyr Armored Plant (part of Ukroboronprom), where BMPs were assembled and then sold to the Ministry of Defense at a price several times higher than the purchase price. According to the magazine "New time", the profit was shared between Oleg Gladkovsky and former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Sergei Pashinsky - one of the initiators of the creation of the infamous mortar "Hammer".
Ruslan Bortnik noted that the countries of Eastern Europe are happy to sell Soviet weapons, hoping to finally switch to NATO standards. And one of the ways to get rid of obsolete military equipment is to export it to Ukraine.
- Assembly shop of armored vehicles of Ukraine
- © UkrOboronProm
“Former Warsaw bloc countries are switching to American, British, French, German weapons. And the used Soviet armament of thirty years ago is being sold just to Ukraine, ”Bortnik stated.
In turn, Dmitry Drozdenko believes that Kiev "in a sense is forced to import weapons from Eastern Europe." According to him, due to the degradation of the scientific and production base, Ukraine was unable to produce high-quality military products.
In late January, the director of the Ukrainian information and consulting company Defense Express, Sergey Zgurets, said on his Facebook page that the military representation of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which is responsible for the reception of weapons, had approved the delivery of defective BTR-4 cases to the Kharkov Machine-Building Design Bureau.
On the armored vehicles, as the expert said, “distinct signs of marriage” are observed - seams from poor-quality welding and voids covered with a thin layer of metal. Zgurets explained the reason for the unsatisfactory condition of the buildings with problems in the organization of production, imperfect equipment and the human factor.
Dmitry Drozdenko believes that the situation with BTR-4 eloquently characterizes the general state of the defense industry of Ukraine. In his opinion, the cause of the plight of the country's defense sector is large-scale corruption and the breakdown of military-technical cooperation with the Russian Federation.
“Ukraine has lost the colossal weapons and technical legacy that it inherited after the collapse of the USSR. If the Kiev authorities hadn’t stolen so fiercely, the country would have lived on a sack of gold. Now, due to mass thefts that are hidden by explosions in military depots, and a breakdown in relations with Russia, Ukraine has lost the opportunity to produce even such simple types of military equipment as armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, ”Drozdenko summed up.