Russian media claims Ukraine is selling arms on the dark web, but the evidence suggests the ads are fake.
The BBC contacted the person who claimed to sell an anti-tank weapon on this dark web marketplace
On the same day, another pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, with 700,000 followers, posted in Russian: "Thanks to Biden and European friends of Ukraine, Javelins, machine guns and even tanks will pop up all over the world in the hands of terrorists and criminals." We found several sellers on the same marketplace mentioned by Russian state media outlets. They said they were selling Nato weapons, and their geolocation was Kyiv. However, the name of Ukraine's capital was misspelled in Ukrainian.One of the main sellers often mentioned in Russian media reports is known as "Weapons Ukraine".
We spoke to StopFake, a Ukrainian fact-checking organisation. It found that the drones attached to the advert matched those of two Switchblade 300 drones with the same serial numbers shot down in Syria in 2015 and 2016.Russian state media repeatedly claim that the people behind these advertisements are Ukrainian. So we decided to get in touch with so-called "sellers" and check for ourselves.
"I see a lot of 'Russianisms' in his Ukrainian language, but I don't see any 'Polonisms' at all. For example, he uses a phrase "зуби не заговорюй" [which can be translated as "don't beat around the bush"]. This is a common Russian phrase and it has no equivalent in Polish." "Javelins can shoot down planes. And Stingers [US-made air-defence systems] can fall into the hands of terrorists and become a safety risk to European airports," claimed a separate report by Russia's Channel One.Russian state TV station Channel 1 aired a report claiming weapons were being sold on the dark web