West's Weapon Smuggling Fears Fueled by 'Cheap Gas' Needs: Ukraine Lawmaker

Reports Western officials are concerned about arms smuggling are at best "naive" and at worst siding with Russian interests, a Ukrainian lawmaker tasked with monitoring foreign weapons flooding into the country has said.

Oleksandr Zavitnevych, the deputy head of a new Ukrainian committee tasked with keeping tabs on billions-of-dollars worth imported arms, said of recent media reports of about fears weapons are being smuggled out of Ukraine: "There are no concrete accusations with clear examples of that going on."

The Financial Times earlier this month reported concern among European Union and NATO officials that Western weapons intended for use against invading Russian troops might enter the black market, eventually arming criminal gangs and terrorist groups.

Zavitnevych told Newsweek: "Some European politicians who spread such false claims about the risk of arms smuggling from Ukraine may be spreading this because they are dependent on cheap gas arriving from the Russian Federation," Zavitnevych said, declining to name any specific nations.

"When we are speaking about these European officials, we could say that some of them are naive, and some of them are really involved."

Ukraine's Economic Security Bureau chief Vadim Melnik has acknowledged at least 10 reported cases of illegal resales of Western weapons currently under investigation.

Kyiv has attempted to soothe fears of smuggling by establishing the new committee, plus by pledging to tighten tracking systems and stressing its forces are already using NATO-compliant software to monitor all weapons and ammunition.

"It's a very sensitive process," Zavitnevych said of his committee's work, which will continue for at least one year with a report published after six months.

Zavitnevych, representing President Volodymyr Zelensky's political party, suggested Western concern is misguided, even an element of a Russian "special psychological operation" which he called "part of the hybrid war they are using against Ukraine."

Reports of weapons theft and smuggling incidents regularly emerge from leading NATO nations, including in the U.S., U.K., and Germany. And with the glut of arms flowing through Ukraine, similar incidents cannot be ruled out, Zavitnevych said.

The U.S. has sent at least 12 HIMARS—devastating High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems—to Ukraine, Germany has sent three of its own version, while Britain has reportedly pledged six.

"When we're speaking about heavy weapons like HIMARS or others, it's really very hard to believe that they could be stolen," said Zavitnevych, who also chairs the parliamentary committee on national security.

"I think it's impossible. But when we're speaking about small arms inside Ukraine, of course, they could be."

"It happens in every country," Zavitnevych said. Such cases, he added, will be a top priority for all arms of the Ukrainian military and law enforcement, not least because any reduction in Western military aid poses an existential threat to Ukraine.

"This war must end with our complete victory," Zavitnevych said. "It's not a secret that the weapons we have come from the Soviet Union, and are not very good. So if this military aid is reduced, I don't even want to even imagine that. It would be a really bad situation for Ukraine."