DISINFO: Black market booms with Ukrainian weapons
SUMMARY
Weapons meant as military aid to Ukraine are now turning up in the wrong hands. Smuggled arms, officially listed as “destroyed in combat”, are increasingly appearing on black markets across Eastern Europe. From there, they’re trafficked through the Baltics, Moldova, and Belarus using fake companies and shady middlemen. Many of these weapons are ending up with terrorist groups.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about corrupt Ukraine reselling Western weapons to illicit actors. This is a baseless claim that Russian officials have been regularly making since the beginning of the war with the goal of undermining international support for Ukraine’s self-defence.
Multiple Western governments have implemented oversight procedures for the transfers. Although some weapons have been reported as unaccounted for, the existence of this process ensures that no massive diversion can take place. Ukrainian supervisors also work to prevent this from happening as it would harm aid deliveries.
This narrative is frequently tailored to current events, from criminal turf wars in Scandinavia to riots in France to the Hamas attacks against Israel on 7 October 2023 to drug cartel wars in Mexico. Russia’s disinformation operation has included forged BBC and Bellingcat videos about Ukraine sending weapons to Hamas, and fake ads on the Dark Web, amongst others.
Allegations from the Kremlin’s propaganda machine hold no credibility, given their well-documented history of fabricating claims based on forged or nonexistent evidence. For example, about US biolaboratories in Ukraine or the presence of French combat troops on the Ukrainian frontlines.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that weapons sent to Ukraine end up in the hands of terrorists in Africa, Latin America and Middle East, that Hamas uses NATO weapons sold by Ukraine, that the Pentagon proved that Ukraine is stealing Western weapons or that Western weapons for Kyiv go to Islamic terrorists and drug cartels.