SBU stops attempt to illegally supply military goods to Russia worth more than $100,000

Counterintelligence officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kharkiv region exposed and blocked the illegal activities of an interregional criminal group, whose members illegally supplied large consignments of military goods to the Russian Federation.

“The special services found that the group included residents of Kharkiv, Kyiv and Sumy regions,” Vladyslav Abdula, head of the press center of the SBU Directorate in Kharkiv region, wrote on his Facebook page.

According to him, the members of the group bought components from private entrepreneurs on the secondary market and exported them to Russia by cars, bypassing customs control. Then the intermediary resold the equipment of the aviation, tank-building and radio-electronic industries to the defense enterprises of the Russian Federation.

As a result of the operation, an attempt was suppressed by the group members in the Russian Federation of a consignment of military goods totaling more than $100,000. Law enforcement officers conducted 16 searches. As a result of them, they seized components for military equipment, stamps for forging technical documentation, seals of commercial structures, accounting documents, draft records, checks, communication means.

Now the investigators of the security agencies are deciding on the issue of informing the group members about the suspicion under Part 1 of Article 333 (violation of the procedure for international transfers of goods subject to state export control) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Also, the special service is checking the possible involvement of the members of the criminal group in the supply of used components for military equipment to Ukrainian defense enterprises.

“According to one version, the businessmen bought up the equipment on the territory of Russia and Ukraine, and then subjected them to cosmetic repairs and provided them with fake technical documentation,” Abdula wrote.

Documentation of illegal activities was carried out under the procedural guidance of Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.