New York-Sana
Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, expressed Moscow's readiness to share its experience in combating the smuggling of light and individual weapons with interested countries.
“The trade in light and small arms came as a result of excessively tolerant laws and loopholes in export control regimes,” TASS news agency quoted Nebenzia as telling a meeting of the UN Security Council, noting that countries that had accumulated large stockpiles of these weapons often sought to sell the surplus instead. It did not pay much attention to the smuggling of weapons across the borders, although this matter is part of the competences of these countries and their sovereignty.
Nebenzia stressed that Russia has "highly developed national laws regarding combating the smuggling of light and small arms and is ready to share its experiences and most effective measures with the countries concerned," calling for cooperation among all countries in this matter and taking firm measures first and foremost at the national level.
