No indication of significant weapons smuggling from Ukraine
Ylva Johansson, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, asserts that the EU has not recorded significant arms smuggling from Ukraine to Europe, and that law enforcement agencies have detected isolated cases.
Source: Johansson in an interview with Reuters while on a visit to Kyiv
"I must say that we have not seen any industrial smuggling of firearms out of Ukraine," the European Home Affairs Commissioner said.
She added that the EU has recorded isolated cases of small arms being exported from Ukraine. They are mostly taken by individuals, as trophies or for personal protection, and "they're being taken, of course, at the border by the border guards".
Johansson noted that she had raised and discussed the issue of arms smuggling with Ukrainian Interior Minister Oleksandr Klymenko.
As reported, Ilva Johansson arrived in Kyiv. As part of her visit to Ukraine, she visited Irpin and discussed law enforcement cooperation, prevention of arms smuggling, investigation of war crimes and support for clearing the areas where hostilities took place of mines.
Last year, the European Union announced that it would take measures against the illegal arms trade in connection with the war in Ukraine. The EU stated then that the information about "arms smuggling" from Ukraine is large-scale Russian propaganda.
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