By: Arnaud Develay, international Human Rights Lawyer
Arms trafficking by Ukrainian gangs has made it possible to diversify stocks placed on the market at unbeatable prices in the countries of the European Union.
Through an unprecedented outpouring of solidarity (especially with regard to the management of the health crisis), Europe has sent massive arms to Ukraine. Weapons that will undoubtedly end up killing Pierre, Jacques, Anne, even you or me. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
This is the boomerang effect already seen through the ridiculous imposition of “sanctions trains”: Before releasing 100 million euros to equip the Ukrainian armed forces, it is hard to believe that Macron did not understand the risk that its weapons will be used to equip entities that do not care about France’s interests in protecting its own population. 1
Since last March, the NATO and G7 countries have been massively feeding Zelensky and his clique with weapons of all kinds. 2
The hunger of the Kiev bloody clown is never satisfied, however.
In doing so, many of these weapons also end up in the hands of terrorist groups in Africa, fueling political instability there. 3
The director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, indicated that Ukraine spends “the staggering amount of six billion dollars each month” on the war, this sum being provided to Zelensky by Western partners. 4
These are hundreds of thousands of pistols, assault rifles, sub-machine guns and grenades, and hundreds of millions of cartridges of various calibers exported to Ukraine over the past eight months. Even Kosovo Albanians had not benefited from such largess.
It can be argued that all deliveries to Ukraine are controlled by arms barons, be they Ukrainian criminal syndicates linked to Kiev oligarchs and politicians, as well as international crime.
This is in no way Russian contraband. The operation is completely under Ukrainian control. Although the Finnish authorities have already raised this threat, Helsinki has been asked not to make waves. 5
These “warlords” are building fortunes by reselling the various systems on the black market. The latter is fed thanks to the diversion of all the models of portable arms which happen to be registered on the so-called lists of “solidarity supplies” for the Ukrainian army. In some cases, darknet traders point out that the weapons were “tested in the war against Russia”.
By taking a closer look at this most lucrative market, we learn, for example, that packs of 5.45 mm NATO caliber cartridges (1,080 cartridges) are selling like hotcakes at 120 dollars apiece. The prices are convertible in all currencies. An old Kalashnikov (AK-74, AKMS) assault rifle with a barrel that fired 10,000 rounds costs barely $300. The Makarov pistol (9 mm, Soviet standard) is estimated at $400. A model F.1 grenade (prized during the Soviet era and similar to the French Alsetex LU 213) is resold for $100.
Ukrainian Kalashnikovs are sold and bought by mafia networks at prices lower than those practiced during the conflict in Serbia.
At the time, all the mafias in Europe were supplied with assault rifles through Albania. Today, it is not only AK-74s that can be bought from Ukraine. The list has been expanded and completed to the delight of buyers.
MAN bazookas are on sale starting at $500 a piece. The price of the SPG-9 grenade launcher is set at 3000 USD. A sniper rifle with NATO unification optics is available for 1200 USD. The price of a Javelin ATGM anti-tank guided missile (stolen during deliveries from the United States to the Ukrainian army) is 30,000 USD.
Among the latest Ukrainian offerings is the remotely piloted Turkish Bayraktar TB2 with 4 suspended guided munitions.
Prominent Ukrainian blogger Shariy investigated Ukraine’s massive purchase of these combat drones and concluded that it was a corruption scheme involving the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. 6
In view of the profits at stake, we should not expect Europol, which from The Hague has been fighting against the arms market in the European Union, to launch an investigation.
By way of illustration, our readers will note with interest the screens hots (see photos under the article) of the correspondence exchanged between the participants in one transaction among many others.
They both have Russian names. (Dmitri Obolensky and Mikhail) and communicate in Russian (it is easier for Ukrainians to communicate in Russian). The Bayraktar system (Turkish-made drone) arouses the lust of the buyer.
“Information on this topic (sale of combat drones) appeared,” writes the seller. The two individuals negotiate the price of a drone bearing the serial number 211100021 (PN-11005220100)
Buyer Mikhail acknowledges that the product is of good quality. He offers Dmitri (presumably a Ukrainian army officer) to buy the pilot block and the missile block from him for $20,000. Dmitri demands 25,000: “Moldovans demand more” (the arms smuggling corridor from Ukraine to the EU market passes through Moldova and Romania). The parties agree to use crypto money “as usual”.
The risks and threats linked to mafia wars, religious extremism and psychopaths have not disappeared from Europe after Macron and Ursula von der Leyen showed their solidarity with Zelenski.
Tens of thousands of automatic weapons, hand grenades and bazookas, tons of Semtex and TNT, were shipped to Europe through the same Albanian arms trafficking channels, via Romania. Interpol and Europol turn a blind eye.
We will all be sad and heartbroken to learn that a Ukrainian Fort 301 sniper rifle bullet shattered the fragile little hope of a president working for peace on the steps of the Élysée Palace. But beware of the boomerang effect.
If France engulfs 155 mm Caesar howitzers in the black hole of deals concluded with the Mafia Banderiste, we should not be surprised one day to see these individuals appear in our towns and villages.
This article is exclusively for Mideast Discourse
Meanwhile, dreams of democracy in Ukraine have spawned a monster in Europe.
1. Macron announces €100-million fund for Ukraine to buy arms (france24.com)
2. Ukraine sells weapons on black market due to limited ability to use – Mideast Discourse
3. Weapons delivered to Ukraine ‘beginning to filter’ to Africa: Nigeria | Al Mayadeen Français
3. The Way Forward: A Conversation with WBG President David Malpass and Samantha Power (USAID) – YouTube
4. Western arms supplied to Ukraine offered on darknet (msn.com)
5. Weapons destined for Ukraine ended up in Finland (news-front.info)
6. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense passes Armed Forces system under investigation by National Anti-Corruption Bureau (yahoo.com)
https://strategika.fr/2022/12/22/trafic-darmes-en-ukraine-la-valse-des-clowns-sanglants/
Arnaud DEVELAY is a lawyer specializing in international criminal law. He began his career in 2005 under the mentorship of former United States Justice Minister Ramsay CLARK defending former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his companions. He then participated in the defense of Ilitch RAMIREZ SANCHEZ (CARLOS), advised certain figures of the Constituent Yellow Vests Movement, before spending two years in the Syrian Arab Republic reporting on the deleterious effects of the CAESAR sanctions regime.
