REVIEW OF ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING IN WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION IN UKRAINE ACCORDING TO OPEN SOURCES (2020)

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of crime related to firearms, ammunition and explosives. It is written based on the results of the study of information on this category of crimes collected in open sources (law enforcement websites and media news resources). In contrast to the departmental statistics and narrative reports that serve certain tasks of law enforcement agencies, the present analysis attempts to describe additional qualitative characteristics for this category of crimes in order to identify more specific trends and determine the impact of the situation in south-eastern Ukraine caused by the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. Relying on his experience of work in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) projects, the author of the study attempts to adapt and apply the principles of collecting of qualitative information from open sources, which are used to collect information on drugrelated crimes for the Drug Monitoring Platform in the Afghan Opiate Trade Project (AOPT). The study covers all types of crimes related to firearms, ammunition and explosives, both those in which the weapon is the subject of a crime (illegal possession, sale, smuggling), and crimes in which a weapon or explosive used as an instrument of crime (murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, property damage, hooliganism). The study also includes cases of illegal use of traumatic firearms, which within the existing criminal legislation of Ukraine are classified as hooliganism. The article provides summary table on prices for certain types of weapons and ammunition in the regions of Ukraine based on the results of successful operations of weapons purchasing realized by law enforcement agencies. In general, the materials presented in the article are an additional source of criminalistics information and can serve as a basis for further analysis and research. The article is a logical continuation of an article published last year based on the results of the 2019 study.