Translated material
Arsenal is distinguished
Russian weapons are walking around the world
The distribution of trunks. Russia, along with the USA and China, is one of the main suppliers of weapons to the world market. In 2009, Moscow legally sold weapons for $ 8.6 billion, in the list of its trading partners - 85 states. Today, the portfolio of orders of Russian defense enterprises from foreign buyers is $ 34 billion. But it is difficult to get rid of the impression: success in the weapons market of Moscow ensures its complete unprincipledness
In January, Russia was in the center of a loud scandal, which our authorities were obsolete according to a long tradition. It became known about the decision of Moscow to transfer weapons and military equipment to Yerevan to $ 800 million. The news of this “gift” caused indignation in Baku, the Ambassador of Russia Vasily Istratov was summoned to the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry for clarification. Moscow has long been criticized for military supplies to authoritarian regimes: Iran, Syria, Venezuela ... But, it turns out, Russia does not hesitate to arm one close and allied country against another allied country, thereby incurring the coals of a long -smoldering regional conflict. At the same time, we are talking about the legal segment of the arms market. What can we say about stolen weapons: it, as the facts show, spreads from the Russian territory anywhere and falls into anyone's hands.
Endless labyrinth
On December 27, 2008, the Israeli army began surgery in the Cord's code name "cast lead" in the gas sector. The goal is to destroy the military infrastructure of the radical Palestinian movement of Hamas. The task is impossible without the destruction of dozens of tunnels, according to which weapons and ammunition were transported from the neighboring Jordan with Israel. Most of them are marked on the war cards of the Israelis - intelligence worked for glory. The work of the scouts was completed by the sappers. But here it was a year - and dozens of new ones “earned” in the place of the collapsed labyrinths: illegal weapons from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt with Iranian and Chinese labeling again began to arrive here, Jordanian journalist Ali Mahmud Mafuz tells The New Times. However, for the first time in many years, according to him, samples of small and portable anti -aircraft weapons with inscriptions on Cyrillice were seen. Mafuz is sure: these are weapons of Soviet or Russian origin. How could it get into gas? There are bypass routes of land supplies - through Turkey and Iraq, where not all areas are under the full control of the authorities. But no less effective sea routes are through the ports of Syria. “In August of last year, several Russian merchant ships with an unidentified load came to Latakia and Tartus (Syrian ports. - last August,” says our interlocutor. “Nobody was looking for them or searched.” The EU and the UN were passionate about the search for the Estonian Admiral Tarmo Kyuts, which disappeared in the Atlantic (according to the European Union speaker, with the cargo of winged missiles for Iran) of the Russian dry truck Arctic Sea. Now 80% of the "gray" and "black" weapons supplies are in the sea. “Air transfer is the most risky and expensive. Cargoes worth less than $ 1 million in such a way, as a rule, do not go, ”Mafuz explains. Any transport company requires at least a 40 percent “rollback” from the total cost of the contract, laying all possible risks in the amount. True, recently, due to the global crisis, the marine route has risen in price. How to deal with smuggling? “You can catch with a dozen merchants and intermediaries, but if official structures cost illegal deliveries, this will not give anything: time will pass - a new channel will work out.”
"Traded like potatoes"
According to the head of the department for the illegal turnover of weapons of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Colonel Sergei Filkin, in November 2009, 217 thousand weapons were included in the wanted list in the country. They say that, among other things, they are looking for 70 portable missile systems and 3 thousand grenade launchers. And this is only registered theft. “The weapon is mostly coming to the illegal market from the army,” explains the New Times Deputy General Lieutenant of the police Alexander Gurov, deputy of the State Duma. -We had a “bastard” in the 90s, and “zero”, and now. The head of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov, a former chief of weapons, recently performs before us (deputies), and says: in warehouses, almost all the old weapons are unsuitable. Why? They pulled on spare parts. " According to the deputy, a huge number of weapons were sold abroad: “They traded it as potatoes, and no one paid attention. The flotillas were stolen, prompted by squadrons. And how many weapons were removed to write off, but not destroyed, but was sold right there. ” Until now, the echo of the loud scandal around the case of smuggling from Abkhazia to Russia of four “written off” portable missile and outlet complexes (MANPADS) “Strela” has not subsided. The demonstration trial in this case took place in Sochi in 2008. But did he stop the smugglers? By no means. In January - November 2009, according to official figures, about 32 thousand crimes associated with illegal weapons are revealed in Russia - 7.9 % more than in the previous year.
Both mass and dimensions
Experts recognize: formally in Russia a tough system for monitoring weapons export has been established. The defense industry enterprises complain of the need to overcome many bureaucratic ponon in the last 2-3 years when selling weapons. But the smugglers are not asleep. Tight control forced them to look for effective bypass tracks. Part of the arsenal of criminals began to make up quite legal purchases. “A new product appeared on the weapons market, the so -called mass -body layouts of firearms - both pistols and machine guns,” Colonel Sergei Filkin explains The New Times. - Such layouts are made on the basis of real combat weapons, are subjected to a very small alteration and, with certain skills and the availability of equipment, can again become weapons. At the same time, their purchase and sale takes place entirely in the legal field. ” According to the interlocutor of The New Times, "especially many" layouts "come from our CIS neighbors." But there are also embezzlement from factories, and artisanal artillers for the production of trunks. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Galina Starovoitov in 1998 was killed from the Aupram submachine gun, made in a semi-custody in the Croatian mountains. Moreover, at the time of the crime, even Interpol could not determine the manufacturer. Against the background of the "mock -up" shaft, serial production weapons are rapidly growing up. Today, the TT pistol in the black market costs about $ 2.5 thousand, 15 years ago - 5 times cheaper.
Fire measure
The leaders of the left goods are leaders, oddly enough, the Ministry of Defense. In Podolsk near Moscow, Alexander Gurov says, a few years ago, 70 pistols and machine guns were stolen from the warehouse: he stole a sector - he was immediately calculated. "But in Soviet times, every cartridge was registered!" - the deputy exclaims nostalgically.
Accounting for accounting, but the numbers can also be “reset”. One of the proven ways, experts say, is a fire. Maybe that's why it is not possible to avoid numerous fires of military warehouses throughout the country. The geographical neighbors of Russia have already felt the advantages of weapons "business in Russian." For example, among Japanese criminals, Russian pistols of Makarov came first in popularity. The previous basis of the arsenals of the Japanese mafiosi-yakuza-Chinese-style TT pistols-has faded into the background.
The last large scandal in the field of weapons trade broke out almost a year ago, in March 2009, when it became known about attempts at high officials of the Ministry of Defense under the guise of non-ferrous metals to sell 30 anti-submarine missiles and 200 air bombs under the guise of non-ferrous metals. The deal was disrupted by customs officers. But where is the guarantee that there will be no others?
According to the UN, in the world circulation there are more than 500 million units of small arms and light weapons. It was they who served as the main means of warfare in 46 of 49 major conflicts that have happened over the past 20 years. During these conflicts, 4 million people were killed, 90% of them are civilians. Moreover, only 50% of the weapons is in legal turnover.