Ukraine's Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara has said that a Kazakh court extended the arrest of two officials of Ukraine's state-owned arms exporter Ukrspecexport to two months.
“Today there is a court ruling to arrest these citizens for two months. Charges are yet to be brought against these citizens,” Kozhara told a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Earlier, ZN.UA, referring to a source, reported the detention at an airport in Kazakhstan of two senior employees from Ukrspecexport on suspicion of giving a large bribe to a Kazakh government representative for assistance in the implementation of export contracts.
Kazakh newspaper Express K reported the detention of the chief of the main department of arms at the Defense Ministry of Kazakhstan, Almaz Asenov, on suspicion of receiving a large bribe. Other Kazakh media reported that Arsenov was arrested while receiving a bribe of $200,000.
So far it has not been reported whether these two cases are linked.
Later on, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine confirmed that two employees of Ukrspecexport had been detained in Kazakhstan, and said that the officials were arrested for 10 days “for additional investigatory proceedings.”
According to the ministry, no official charges have been brought against the two Ukrainians as of yet.
