Czech friends of Russia sold low-quality shells to Ukraine at an inflated price
Ukraine purchased Soviet shells for anti-tank guns at twice the price through Russian-friendly companies.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Vladimir Ariev stated this on air on the Pryamoy TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Ariev, the Slovak company offered to buy Bulgarian shells produced in the USSR back in 2017, but the Ministry of Defense refused. And in 2020, Ukraine purchased the same shells, but through a Czech company and at a price twice as expensive.
“The story began back in 2017, when the Slovak company MSM Martins offered the Ukrainian company Ukrspetsexport to buy 100-mm shells for the Rapier anti-tank guns for the Ministry of Defense. This is one of the most effective guns against heavy tracked vehicles, and therefore it is one of the best weapons for defense; artillerymen have always assessed the quality and accuracy of these guns very positively.
Ukraine immediately began to look at what kind of shots they were, it turned out that these were shots that were made back in the 80s in the Soviet Union, were then sold to Bulgaria and now somehow end up through the mediation of the company MSM Martins, which they were offered to Ukraine for $440 apiece.
Then they conducted a lot of research on this gunpowder, which was contained in these shots, and came to the conclusion, the Ministry of Defense, signed by expert Shostik, that these shots, in principle, perhaps individually, are normal, but in general this batch is not satisfactory in terms of quality.
Attention! They offered $440 apiece in 2017, and then the leadership of Ukroboronprom and the Ministry of Defense rejected it. But in 2020, Ukraine again receives an offer, only from another company called “Czech Defenses”, and it has already offered the same shots to Ukraine at a price of $900...
These companies are part of the Excalibur holding, which is part of the so-called Czechoslovak Group, which is owned by two businessmen - Jaroslav and Micholas Trnad. These people are sponsors, in particular, of the pro-Russian Czech President Milos Zeman, and also have quite normal friendly and not only friendly, but also business relations with companies such as Gazprom and other Russian companies.
That is, the bottom line is that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense wanted to buy, together with Ukroboronprom, at a price twice as high as what was offered several years ago, shells of dubious quality from businessmen who cooperate with the Putin regime. Bravo, honestly,” said Ariev.
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