"СЕНСС" октября 25, 2024 No Comments

Today, on October 25, a roundtable discussion on “Activities of the National Police of Ukraine in Combating Illicit Firearms Trafficking: Main Problems and Ways to Solve Them” was held at Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs, located in Kropyvnytskyi.

The main topic of the event was the presentation of the results of an analytical study on the problems of illegal arms trafficking conducted by Donetsk University within the framework of the micro-grant program of the CENSS Center for Security Studies and Small Arms Survey. The roundtable was attended by Vadym Chernysh, Chairman of the Center’s Governing Board, and Victoriia Voronina, Executive Director of the CENSS. Law enforcement officers and academics joined the discussion online.

The study analyzed 16216 questionnaires of practical officers of the National Police of Ukraine.  14463 police officers, which is 89% of the surveyed respondents, emphasized that the level of threats from illegal firearms trafficking has increased since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

The researchers analyzed the opinions of the survey participants on how firearms and ammunition are trafficked, particularly from the territories of hostilities and areas near the front line to other parts of the country. 13439 respondents (82.9%) support the proposal to expand the scope of the criminal prohibition by establishing liability for stealing, appropriating, extorting, carrying, storing, purchasing, transferring or selling firearms components.

According to the survey participants, several preventive measures are the most effective in combating illegal firearms trafficking. In particular, the following:

Conducting information campaigns aimed at forming law-abiding behavior among the population regarding the voluntary surrender of weapons, ammunition, explosives, and explosive devices to the authorities – 9338 respondents (57.6%);

Monitoring information portals, websites, telegram channels, etc. for offers of illegal sale of weapons, ammunition, or explosives – 6978 respondents (43%);

Conducting targeted operational and preventive operations (special operations) under the codename “Weapons and explosives” – 5760 respondents (35.5%).

The roundtable was a continuation of the work of the NGO Center for Security Studies “CENSS” on training and activities of experts of the professional network of the project ‘Support to Ukraine in Countering the Risks of Small Arms and Light Weapons Proliferation as a result of Russia’s Aggressive War’, which is jointly implemented by the Swiss Foundation of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, which operates through the Small Arms Survey with the financial support of the German government.