MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The Kiev regime supports terrorist groups in Africa by supplying them with weapons provided to the Ukrainian military from the West, Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for New Challenges and Threats, said.
"The uncontrolled pumping of weapons into Ukraine is provoking a sharp deterioration in the crime situation in Europe, as well as in other regions of the world," Ilyichev stated during the 19th meeting of the heads of main departments of anti-terrorist structures of the CIS states and heads of national structures of the Commonwealth countries responsible for coordinating anti-terrorism and anti-extremism efforts. "The Kiev regime closely cooperates with transnational criminal networks, including in training militants to fight against legitimate governments, especially in Africa."
According to the diplomat, Ukrainian special services openly interact with and assist terrorist groups, supply them with weapons and drones, train them in their use, coordinate terrorist actions, and transfer trained mercenaries.
"This criminal activity is associated with the massive illegal sale of Western weapons and ammunition supplied to the Ukrainian military. Their presence has already been detected in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Chad," the Russian Foreign Ministry official noted. "A telling example is the 'Support Group for Islam and Muslims' [linked to the terrorist organization 'Al-Qaeda', banned in Russia - TASS] in Mali, which has been able to increase its capabilities and expand the territories under its control to such an extent that it is now a matter of establishing a fuel blockade of the Malian capital, Bamako."