Charges have been brought against employees of Ukraine's state arms exporter Ukrspecexport who were detained in Kazakhstan, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has reported.

"According to addition information from the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan, on February 2 this year charges were brought against Ukrainian citizens employed by the Ukrspecexport state-owned enterprise, who were detained by the Kazakh authorities in Astana on January 26 this year, in accordance with Part 5, Article 112 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan – large-scale bribery," Acting Director of the Foreign Ministry's Information Policy Department Yevhen Perebyinis said at a press conference on Tuesday.

He said the Ukrainians had been arrested by a court in Kazakhstan for up to two months and that they had been provided with all that they required.

Earlier, ZN.UA, referring to a source, reported the detention at an airport in Kazakhstan of two senior employees from Ukrspecexport on suspicion of giving a large bribe to a Kazakh government representative for assistance in the implementation of export contracts.

Kazakh newspaper Express K reported the detention of the chief of the main department of arms at the Defense Ministry of Kazakhstan, Almaz Asenov, on suspicion of receiving a large bribe. Other Kazakh media reported that Asenov was arrested while receiving a bribe of $200,000.

Later on, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine confirmed that two employees of Ukrspecexport had been detained in Kazakhstan, and said that the officials were arrested for ten days "for additional investigatory proceedings."