The investigation has uncovered a list of individuals who received "rewards." Among them are heads of state, Russian officials, and media figures. Specifically, these include Kim Jong-un, Bashar al-Assad, Dmitry Medvedev, Sergey Lavrov, Sergey Sobyanin, Ramzan Kadyrov, Alexander Sidyakin, Vladimir Solovyov, Yulia Chicherina, Steven Seagal, and collaborator Vladimir Saldo.
The weapons came from two main sources—they were either stolen from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or illegally imported from Slovakia. In particular, law enforcement documented a scheme for importing Glock-type pistols chambered for Flobert cartridges. After crossing the border, they were converted into fully functional combat weapons.
Subsequently, these pistols were sold to criminals, transferred to illegal armed groups, or used to “bribe” individuals who were not authorized to possess combat weapons.
Exposure and Arrest
The police identified the supply routes and members of the organized group as early as January of this year. Thanks to cooperation with Polish colleagues, some of the suspects—Ukrainian citizens—were detained at the border while attempting to import another shipment of weapons.
In April of this year, the second phase of the “Black Cartridge” special operation took place. Police officers and military counterintelligence agents from the SBU conducted over 30 simultaneous raids in Kyiv, as well as in the Kyiv, Zakarpattia, and Sumy regions.
During the searches, law enforcement officers seized over 90 firearms, including assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols, and submachine guns. In addition, at least seven grenade launchers, TM-62M anti-tank mines, artillery shells, and other ammunition were discovered.
