You're reading: Foreign Ministry: Ukraine did not export weapons to Syria

Kyiv has denied reports claiming Ukrainian weapons were exported to Syria.

“Ukraine did not and does not export such products to Syria,”
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Dykusarov said at a press
briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 9.

“Ukraine rigidly complies to its international obligations in the
sphere of supplies of military goods,” he said, and added that
information about international supplies of such goods should be
submitted to the UN and is available on the Web site of the UN Register
of Conventional Arms.

“According to the information available to the Foreign Ministry, in
2010 a contract for supplies of military goods was signed with the
Defense Ministry of Saudi Arabia in full compliance with the
international requirements and national procedures,” he said.

The Foreign Ministry said that more details on the implementation of
this contract could be requested from the State Service of Export
Control of Ukraine, which is in charge of all export issues.

Earlier on Tuesday, the BBC’s Russian Service reported that in an
investigation, several boxes with weapons addressed to Saudi Arabia were
found on the base of Syrian rebels near Aleppo. Luhansk Cartridge Works
was indicated as the producer of the weapons in the box.

According to the BBC, no one knows how the small boxes got to the
base near Aleppo. As proof of the report, journalists posted a photo of a
wooden box with a label, which reads that the content of the box was
produced in Luhansk and sent from the airport in Hostomel in Kyiv
region. The Saudi capital Riyad is indicated as the destination of the
boxes.

The box’s gross weight is 30 kilograms, and its net weight is 23
kilograms. The recipient of the box is the head of the communications
department of the army of Saudi Arabia.

Ukrainian company Dastan refused to comment on reports that weapons made by it were discovered in Syria, BBC said.

A representative of the company said in an interview with BBC that Dastan does not have contacts with Saudi Arabia.

In a commentary on BBC’s report the state company Ukrspecexport said
that Ukraine does not export weapons to the countries under embargo of
the UN Security Council or any other sanctions of international
organizations.