Insight - Ukraine, after war, becomes a trove for black market arms trade

Ukrainian servicemen check cars at a checkpoint near Slaviansk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 29, 2016. Picture taken June 29, 2016. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine/MOSCOW (Reuters) - On Feb. 12 last year, the same day that a ceasefire ended the worst of the fighting in eastern Ukraine between rebels and government forces, a former rebel fighter seized a chance to turn his inside knowledge of the conflict into hard cash.

He travelled to a spot on the Russian-Ukrainian border where he retrieved a cache of weapons hidden there earlier by his comrades in the pro-Russian rebel movement.