UNITED NATIONS, July 4. /TASS/. The main Haiti-bound arms trafficking route goes via the United States, but Washington is doing nothing to cut it in an apparent attempt to influence the situation in the country, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said.

"According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the main route for arms smuggling runs from Florida by water and small aircrafts. At the same time, we do not see the current embargo doing anything to prevent the flow of arms from the United States," the Russian diplomat told the UNSC briefing on the situation in Haiti. "Washington could have tackled the problem long ago, if it really wanted to. Instead, it seem that our United States colleagues prefer to use illegal arms shipments, on which US arms dealers make money, as leverage to influence the situation."

In his words, "local gangs currently hold at least 500,000 units of firearms, including grenade launchers and sniper rifles." "The leaders of these gangs are disseminating videos on different social networks showing how they are arming entire private armies ‘to the teeth,’" he added.

The security and humanitarian situation deteriorated in Haiti after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021 and was exacerbated when an earthquake killed more than 2,200 people later the same year. On March 1, an agreement was signed to send a Kenyan peacekeeping force of 1,000 police officers to Haiti to crack down on crime.

Afterwards, reports came out that some criminal groups in Haiti were planning to overthrow the government headed by Prime Minister Ariel Henry. On March 3, the Haitian authorities decided to impose a state of emergency and curfew throughout the Ouest department, extending it for a month in Port-au-Prince because of the confrontation between armed gangs and law enforcement agencies. Henry announced on March 11 that the government will step down after a presidential transitional council is established.

According to the Russian Embassy in Venezuela and Haiti, gangs now control up to 90% of the capital city.