The Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) arrested French citizen Gregoire Moutaux at the UkrainianPolish border in May 2016, claiming to have thwarted a farright terrorist threat. At the time, Moutaux was allegedly carrying an arsenal of weapons in the trunk of his car, including five automatic kalashnikovs, two grenade launchers, 125 kilograms of TNT and 100 electric detonators.

To this day, Moutaux’s case remains the largest known attempt at smuggling weapons from the war in Donbas into Europe. What’s more, it calls into question whether the conflict in Ukraine’s east has created a new black market supplying weapons to extremists and criminal groups.

While the SBU hailed Moutaux’s arrest as a victory against rightwing terrorism, French authorities were less than convinced. The Antiterrorist Department in Paris deemed the information provided by the Ukrainian authorities “insufficient.” Meanwhile, local police investigations revealed only circumstantial evidence linking Moutaux to the farright, ultranationalist political party Renouveau Francais (French Renewal).

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