US journalist accuses Ukraine of selling weapons on the black market
Ukraine has sold a large amount of weapons supplied by the US and the West on the black market.
According to RIA Novosti on March 11, famous American journalist Tucker Carlson said in an interview with another American journalist, Chris Cuomo, that Ukraine has sold a large amount of weapons supplied by the US and NATO on the black market, although Washington is obliged to monitor military aid transferred to Kiev.
“Ukraine has sold a large number of weapons systems supplied by the US and NATO around the world. Now they are being bought by governments and armed groups,” said journalist Carlson.
According to Carlson, weapons shipped from the West are falling into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, the Taliban, the Islamist movement Hamas, and other groups, “causing incredible instability.”
Mr. Carlson said he personally knew the buyers of these weapons, but could not name them. Carlson added that he considered Ukraine “the most corrupt country in Europe,” with corruption levels so high that even NATO did not want Ukraine to become a member.
"We've poured billions of dollars into high-tech weapons systems, into this country, and we don't monitor it. We also have biological laboratories in this country... We have an obligation to monitor it," Mr. Carlson said.
Earlier, the President said that Ukraine sells weapons to the Middle East and they can be delivered anywhere. The media repeatedly reported that some of the weapons supplied to Ukraine were being smuggled onto the black market, and this was confirmed by European officials.
In May 2022, Europol Director Catherine de Bolle publicly warned that weapons supplied to Ukraine by EU countries would fall into the hands of criminal groups.
In July 2022, the EU police agency announced that it had specific information about a “leakage” of ammunition and weapons, including heavy weapons, from the conflict zone in Ukraine. According to the authorities, arms depots may have been set up along the border between EU member states and Ukraine to facilitate smuggling.
In late October 2022, Finnish Central Criminal Police Commissioner Krister Ahlgren stated in an interview with Yle that the weapons supplied to Ukraine could end up in the hands of Finnish criminals.
In April 2023, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Sevmour Hersh reported that, from the very beginning of the conflict, Western-supplied weapons flooded into Poland - something that was also acknowledged by then-Polish deputy interior minister Maciej Wąsik.