Published: Less than 40 minutes ago
The EU is entering into special cooperation with Moldova to prevent the smuggling of weapons from Ukraine into the Union in the future.
The initiative for a “support hub” in the Moldovan capital Chisinau was presented by EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson (S) and Moldovan Interior Minister Ana Revenco at a meeting of Interior Ministers in Prague on Monday.
– From experience from the previous war in Yugoslavia, we still have problems with firearms that are smuggled from there to criminal organizations and contribute to the violence within the criminal networks in Europe, Johansson says.
The Swedish Commissioner says that through cooperation, Europol will be able to more easily share information with the Union’s partner countries and that the border agency Frontex will also be able to strengthen its customs controls.
Moldova was chosen as the host country for the cooperation as a large part of the expected arms smuggling is likely to take place there, according to Frontex’s acting head Aija Kalnaja.