KYIV. March 20 (Interfax) - Third countries are supplying the Syrian opposition with Ukrainian-made ammunition for Soviet armored vehicles seized from the Syrian armed forces, says Ukrainian citizen Ankhar Kochneva, who recently fled from captivity in Syria.
"The Syrian military is saying that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are purchasing weapons [for the Syrian opposition] from Ukraine," Kochneva said at a press conference at the Interfax press center in Kyiv when asked whether Syria possesses Ukrainian-made weapons.
Kochneva said she heard repeatedly that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were buying ammunition from Ukraine for Soviet-made tanks seized by the opposition from government forces.
Arab go-betweens are purchasing weapons for the opposition worth "millions of dollars," she said.
International media outlets accused Ukraine in October 2012 of "gray" sales of ammunition to the Syrian opposition.
The Ukrainian state company Ukrspetsexport denied the allegations, saying that Ukraine is maintaining its military-technological cooperation with other countries in strict compliance with international commitments and under the State Export Control Service's control and that the country did not sell weapons to Syria.
At the same time, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official confirmed that Kyiv had concluded a contract for selling military goods for the Saudi Defense Ministry in 2010.
Experts attributed the allegations to the problem of re-export on the global weapons market, which strong market players are not interested in opposing.