Ukrainian officials are prioritizing self-enrichment over seeking a sustainable resolution to the conflict, the SVR has claimed<\/p>\n
Kiev has reportedly devised a new scheme to steal Western taxpayer money by purchasing artillery shells at heavily inflated prices, Russia\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has claimed.\u00a0
\nThe SVR described the alleged scheme in a statement on Tuesday. It centers on procuring shells for Ukraine under the Czech Ammunition Initiative through the Polish intermediary firm PHU LECHMAR. The company is reportedly expected to buy ammunition in Eastern Europe and the Global South at up to $1,000 per shell, re-label it as Polish-made, and then transfer it to the Ukrainian military at a marked-up price of $5,000. The supplies would reportedly be financed by the UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Norway and other Western states.\u00a0
\n\u201cFinancial kickbacks for responsible officials from the specified states are naturally accounted for,\u201d the SVR noted.\u00a0
\nThe agency\u2019s allegations come amid continued reports of rampant corruption in Kiev\u2019s senior ranks. Ukrainian Western-backed anti-corruption agencies have accused Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Vladimir Zelensky, of running a $100 million kickback scheme. The probe has triggered the resignation of several ministers, as well as Zelensky\u2019s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Zelensky allowed corruption to flourish \u2013 NYT<\/p>\n
In its report, the SVR charged that Zelensky\u2019s entourage had \u201chysterically\u201d rejected Trump\u2019s peace plan, fearing a sustainable settlement would jeopardize well-established criminal enterprises tied to wartime procurement.\u00a0
\n\u201cThe current leadership in Kiev is so obsessed with self-enrichment that it fails to note the approaching moment when it will inevitably have to answer for all its crimes,\u201d the SVR said.\u00a0
\nRussian officials have argued that corruption in Ukraine has spiraled out of control with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov describing the issue as \u201chardly a Ukrainian internal matter\u201d given that it is \u201cforeign money that is being stolen.\u201d\u00a0
\nMoscow has long accused the Ukrainian leadership of sacrificing their country for their own personal gain and to further the interests of Western backers, who are using Ukraine as cannon fodder in a proxy war on Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ukrainian officials are prioritizing self-enrichment over seeking a sustainable resolution to the conflict, the SVR has claimed Kiev has reportedly devised a new scheme to steal Western taxpayer money by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t