A sign of the worsening economic situation in the Ukraine as a result of the demise of nationalised industries is that the murder rate with SALW has increased from 300 per year in the 1980s to 800 per year in the 1990s. The government has been criticised for corrupt practices with respect to selling surplus arms. Official trade with Iran, Pakistan and the Taliban is supplemented with illicit trade to Bosnians and Croats during the Balkan conflicts and Ukrainian weapons have been found in Angola, Liberia, Peru, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and southern Yemen. The unregulated border with the Transdniestr region of Moldova is thought to be the main route for this illicit trade.

With Greek, Turkish and German funding, a NATO-led project to destroy 1.5 million surplus small arms was announced in November 2002. This is the second such initiative, the first started earlier in 2002 with the intention of destroying 400,000 landmines (2002).

Organisations

Ukraine Forum for Educational Administration (e-mail luda@uprotel.net.ua)
UNDP Ukraine (shared with UNDP Slovakia)
OSCE Ukraine

Other links

OSCE factsheet in English and Russian
Article on the Ukrainian arms trade (2002) from the University of Toronto
Report on the Kiev arms trade (1999) from Janes Intelligence Review (PDF)