MOSCOW, April 22 (RIA Novosti) – Over one million rounds of foreign-manufactured ammunition has been withdrawn from illegal trafficking by Ukraine’s Security Service, the agency’s press service announced Tuesday.
Officials revealed that the ammunition, weighing over 12 tons, had been delivered to a company in Kiev in late January and registered for use with hunting rifles.
An expert examination nevertheless ruled that the rounds were intended for military weapons.
Ukraine’s Security Service has launched a pre-trial inquiry into the case while the investigation is still underway.
Amid rising tensions in southeastern Ukraine, the country’s Security Service together with the Interior Ministry is conducting operations to confiscate illegal weapons, ammunition and explosive substances.
Over the past two months, the agency has carried out 155 raids which resulted in the seizure of 700 weapons and over 500 explosive devices, charging 64 people with administrative or criminal offenses.
Rallies of pro-federalization activists began last month in eastern Ukraine, with protesters in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv calling for a referendum on the status of their respective regions within the country. To quell the protests, Ukraine’s interim government announced a special anti-terrorist operation targeting the cities of Kramatorsk and Slaviansk in the Donetsk region.
