Kiev announces mechanism of controlled weapons export

MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko has announced the launch of "a special mechanism of controlled export" of weapons based on bilateral Drone Deal intergovernmental agreements.

"As many as 20% of revenues from the export of finished goods and technologies, and 30% of revenues from component exports will be transferred to a special state budget fund for the development of the Ukrainian defense industry. The minimum contract value for finished products is 15 million hryvnias (about $334,000). <...> If the manufacturer confirms its ability to simultaneously fulfill state and export contracts, it will be allowed to export goods. However, producers could be denied export permits if a ministry or any other government contractor plans to procure the items for Ukraine’s defense needs or the goods are included in the list of critical products," Sviridenko wrote on Telegram.

In April, Kiev offered its friendly countries "cooperation in the Drone Deal format based on special agreements on the production and supply of drones, missiles, ammunition and other in-demand weapons, military equipment, and software, as well as integration with the defense systems of partner states."

Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told TASS earlier that Ukraine’s weapons export plans were nothing but a corruption scheme to launder funds provided by the EU. He stressed that Ukraine had minimal domestic production capacity and that most of the so-called Ukrainian weapons were in fact manufactured in other countries.