The Army’s inspector general has admitted that the United States is failing to enforce its own gun control laws.
A classified report last year found that the Pentagon was unable to control tens of billions of dollars in weapons sent to Ukraine. Details of the report were inadvertently revealed by a Republican lawmaker during a hearing on Tuesday.
Speaking at a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday, Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch noted that the United States has provided $113 billion in aid to Ukraine since its inception. conflict last February, about 60% of which went to the country’s army. .
Storch, who is responsible for accounting for that money and preventing waste, fraud or abuse, declined to say whether his team had encountered such corruption in Ukraine. However, Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican, said in a report by Storch’s office last October that the Pentagon could not track arms shipments to Ukraine in accordance with its own policy.
Storch responded that the report in question was supposed to remain confidential, but admitted that it was “exactly” recognize “difficulties” He stood against the USA in Ukraine.
Control of these arms shipments is governed by the Arms Export Control Act of 1996. Asked by Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican who opposes military aid to Ukraine, Storch did not confirm or deny under oath that the Pentagon was carrying out the act.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced in January that the Biden administration had “I didn’t see any signs” than military or economic aid “It was fodder for all kinds of corruption in Ukraine.” However, the classified document cited by Johnson appears to support multiple reports that weapons often go missing after being delivered.
Last year, reports supported by Amnesty International claimed that 30% of Western weapons sent to Ukraine actually reached the front lines. US and Canadian officials admitted at the time that they did not know where many of the weapons had gone, but a US intelligence source told CNN that they had disappeared. “into a super black hole” Once they entered Ukraine.
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A senior US official is raising concerns about aid to Ukraine
The Kremlin has claimed that up to $1 billion of these weapons are sent from Ukraine each month to criminals and terrorist groups in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, while Europol and Interpol have warned that the weapons may have been transferred from Ukraine to criminal organizations. in Europe.
Storch, led by Gaetz on Tuesday, acknowledged as much “There is a long history of corruption in Ukraine.” A former US soldier who fought in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion before defecting to Russia told RT on Tuesday that he saw commanders selling Western rocket launchers and rifles.
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