KIEV, June 24 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council head Pyotr Poroshenko said Caucasian terrorist groups might be financed with proceeds from smuggled Russian oil, the Novosti-Ukraine news agency reports.
"The fuel comes in from Dagestan and Chechnya. Local criminal groups are involved, too. In fact, they're talking about sponsoring rebel units in Chechnya," Poroshenko said. He is currently in the Lugansk region, where he is inspecting a smuggled-oil product base discovered by law-enforcers near the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Smugglers bring in "not diesel fuel, but virgin gasoline from the Caucasian region," he said.
According to Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies, "the number of Chechen and Dagestani migrants involved in smuggling virgin stock has increased."
But Poroshenko denied that the situation has anything to do with the legal provision of oil.
He said Ukraine intends to fight the smuggling activities, doing so in close cooperation with the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center.
