ST. PETERSBURG (RFE/RL) -- Russia's customs service and the counterintelligence department of the Leningrad Military Region announced on May 29 that they had detained a group of illegal arms smugglers, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
The detainees include former and current military officers, who are citizens of Russia and Ukraine.
They are accused of attempting to sell around 20 tons of missile parts to Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.
Military expert Aleksandr Golts told RFE/RL's Russian Service that the case is most likely just a commercial crime, having nothing to do with either state secrets or terrorist organizations.
Militaries in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe often still rely on Soviet-era technologies.
An investigation has been launched.