Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Kuzio, Taras. 2002 ‘Arming Rogue States: Ukraine's Decade-long Illegal Trade in Arms.’ RFE/RL Crime, Corruption and Terrorism Watch; 2 (1), p. 1. Prague: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 10 January
Relevant contents
Ukraine's involvement in this [illicit arms] trade has also been assisted by the Transdniester region…
The main seaport the Transdniester uses is Odesa. In 1996, the Moldovans issued eight customs seals to the region and, by September of this year, the new Moldovan government found that the Transdniester had made an additional 348 illegal customs seals …
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin recently complained that the Transdniester was a hotbed of smuggling, which is taking place with Ukraine's assistance …
A major transit point for illicitly exported weapons from the Transdniester are Ukrainian ports in the Odesa region. The Transdniestrians have their own people in Illichevsk and Odesa who fabricate documents for goods shipped via Ukrainian ports allegedly coming from Moldova …
Most of these illicitly exported goods are weapons, the mainstay of the Transdniester economy. In the Soviet era, the region's military-industrial complex only produced military components. Currently, they have closed production cycles for small arms, a full range of different types of mortars, 43 Grad multiple-missile launchers, and grenade launchers.
[Taras Kuzio is with the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Toronto.]
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