Time.news – Christer Ahlgren, superintendent of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), has dared to break with the taboo of the Ukrainian vestal state. In an interview with digital media YLE on October 30, he said that weapons supplied by Finland to Ukraine within the first week after the Russian intervention were smuggled back into Finland: “It may be qand lThe weapons sent to Ukraine returned to Finland and ended up in the criminal underground, including in the hands of known organized crime gangs”. And to clarify:Routes have been established between Ukraine and Finland for arms smuggling”.
According to the preliminary information he claims to have received, these criminal groups have captured “military weapons, such as assault rifles designed for the Ukrainian forces”. But this would not only concern Finland. “Weapons sent by several countries to Ukraine, were found in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands”again according to Ahlgren.
“The routes and contacts for illegal arms trafficking from Ukraine to Finland are already in place,” Ahlgren said beyond a shadow of a doubt. “Three of the largest motorcycle gangs in the world, stakeholders in larger international organizations, are active in Finland. One of them is Bandidos MC, which has a unit in most major cities in Ukraine.” detailed the boss of the Finnish police to the colleagues of YLE.
“Ukraine has received a large volume of weapons, and that is good, but we will have to deal with these weapons for decades and pay the price here”. As if to drive the point home, he regrets that “the decisions-makers [aient] forgotten that the war in Ukraine created more work for the police force, but this did not translate into increased staffing and funding. Today, security checks are mandatory for airport staff, but the same checks are not required for port workers, giving criminals a back door in Finnish ports.”
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry was quick to deny it. “Kremlin propagandists create dangerous myths and fictions about Ukraine trials.” In the same vein, kyiv accuses the YLE media of having published information “somewhat invented, the “somewhat” remaining at the discretion of each. And to publish information that “the policeman actually didn’t say“. In fine, “to smear the Ukrainian state in the eyes of its allies, according to Putin’s will“.
Faced with such an accusation, the Finnish media did not resist. As of Thursday, he made amends, this time citing Markus Välimäki, Deputy Director of the NBI. As “clarification“, he said: “Finnish police have no evidence that arms supplied as military aid to Ukraine have been smuggled back into the country“.
Christer Ahlgren’s catharsis did not last long in the face of the endless Ukrainian michetonnage. But this is not the first crack in the geopolitical consensus of nothing-is-too-good-for-Ukraine. Faced with the technical impossibility of tracing the flow of financial funds and weapons sent to kyiv, a few voices have already been heard. Among others, that of the secretary general of Interpol, Jurgen Stock, during a conference at the headquarters of the Anglo-American Press Association, on June 1 (statements echoed by FranceSoir): “I have no doubt that the sale of illegal weapons will increase […] Not only in the region neighboring the conflict zone, but we know from experience that these weapons can be trafficked to other continents. We have seen this in the Balkan region. We have seen this in many theaters in Africa, and of course many criminal organizations are trying to exploit the chaotic situation, the availability of weapons, including military weapons.”.
In the United States, voices are beginning to demand accountability for the use of aid to Ukraine, and not only in the ranks of the Republicans. Among the Democrats too. Last Tuesday, Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Washington State Progressive House Caucus, asked President Joe Biden “to reconsider its strategy with Russia, strengthening military and economic assistance to Ukraine through proactive diplomacy, redoubling efforts to find a realistic framework for a ceasefire”. On the side of the Republicans, if at the beginning they did not want to be outdone on their support for Ukraine, the messages today are much more mixed. Representative Kevin McCarthy said that if the Republicans win the election of ” mid-terms and regain control of Congress, they will oppose additional aid to Ukraine.
Beyond the question of the positions taken, namely whether this aid is relevant or not, according to the geopolitical, historical and public law reading of the conflict between two ethnically homogeneous nations, the question which divides the waters, by which the States of bound laws should have started, is that of transparency and accountability. The English term accountabilityeven deep accountability, has also become an axis of the Republican campaign.
Accountability should also be demanded of the European Union and its constituent nations. The Finnish policeman was forced to reconsider his statements. But the facts are tough. And they are preceded by a long history of corruption and arms trafficking from Ukraine.
EU technicians are this week demanding that the government of Pedro Sanchez in Spain be accountable for the distribution of Next Generation funds, before disbursing the third installment. These funds were designed to compensate for the consequences of the measures taken in response to the declaration of the 2020 pandemic. This same meticulousness, required of one of the founding states of the EU, is totally absent when it comes to asking the Ukraine to justify the use of allocated funds, which are disproportionate to what the States of southern Europe receive. The most ironic being that on Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelensky begged for further financial aid from Spain during the visit of José Manuel Albares, Spanish Foreign Minister, to kyiv. And he’ll probably get it.
As we wrote in an earlier edition, the officials of the European Court of Auditors have been absent subscribers when it comes to Ukraine since 2016. It should be remembered that military and financial aid to this country did not wait until February 2022.