{"id":22169,"date":"2024-02-28T08:28:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/ukraine-charges-key-figure-in-arms-trade-with-corruption\/28\/02\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-02-28T08:28:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:28:47","slug":"ukraine-charges-key-figure-in-arms-trade-with-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/ukraine-charges-key-figure-in-arms-trade-with-corruption\/28\/02\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Charges Key Figure in Arms Trade With Corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A high-profile Ukrainian former politician who has become central to the country\u2019s effort to obtain weapons was arrested on corruption charges earlier this month, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ex-politician, Serhiy Pashinsky, was a longtime member of Ukraine\u2019s Parliament who spent much of his career denying accusations of self-dealing. After Russia\u2019s invasion, senior government officials called on him to help arm the military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/12\/world\/europe\/ukraine-arms-dealer-serhiy-pashinsky.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">New York Times reported<\/a> last year that a company tied to Mr. Pashinsky, Ukrainian Armored Technology, had become the biggest private arms supplier in Ukraine and that authorities were investigating the company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prosecutors recently accused Mr. Pashinsky and five other men of participating in a convoluted fuel-buying scheme that they said had defrauded the Ukrainian government out of about $25 million several years before the war started. Mr. Pashinsky denied the charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The accusations do not relate to weapons procurement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Pashinsky\u2019s arrest reflects the tensions of wartime Ukraine under President Volodymyr Zelensky. His government has made a series of high-profile moves to root out corruption and assure Western allies that Ukraine is a reliable ally committed to the rule of law. But Ukraine also urgently needs weapons and has rolled back years of anticorruption measures in order to speed up procurement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky once criticized Mr. Pashinsky on national television. \u201cGo out on the streets and ask whether Pashinsky is a criminal,\u201d Mr. Zelensky he said in 2019. \u201cI guarantee you that out of 100 people, 100 will say that he is a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When the war broke out, his government turned for help to Mr. Pashinsky and other figures from a more rough-and-tumble era. Mr. Pashinsky excelled at the job, military officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Pashinsky has denied running Ukrainian Armored Technology. In a hearing earlier this month, a prosecutor said that the authorities had found evidence that he indeed controlled the company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukraine\u2019s High Anti-Corruption Court this week imposed bail of more than $7 million for Mr. Pashinsky. He said in a Facebook post that the bail had been posted by companies from an arms industry trade group that he heads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI am deeply ashamed that funds meant for weapon production were used as bail for me on false charges,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When reached by a reporter, Mr. Pashinsky declined to comment. \u201cCall after the war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Justin Scheck<!-- --> and <!-- -->Natalia Yermak<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/02\/28\/world\/europe\/ukraine-weapons-politician-charged-corruption.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A high-profile Ukrainian former politician who has become central to the country&rsquo;s effort to obtain weapons was arrested on corruption charges earlier<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/ukraine-charges-key-figure-in-arms-trade-with-corruption\/28\/02\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}