France, Germany and Italy circumventedan embargo in place to sell weapons to Vladimir Putin, which are now being used to massacre Ukrainians.
On a day of shame for the European Union, it was learned that 10 member states sold hundreds of millions of dollars in military equipment to Russia between 2015 and 2020.
Paris sent bombs, rockets and explosives, as well as thermal imaging cameras for 1,000 tanks and infrared detectors for jets.
Berlin sold what it called “dual-use equipment”, including rifles, vehicles of “special protection” and icebreaker ships, and Rome provided armored vehicles.
The states of the European Union, including the then member country of Great Britain, hit Russia with an arms embargo in 2014 for the annexation of Crimea.
But a legal loophole allowed the countries to s and the companies fulfilled the contracts they had previously signed with Russia.
France began to sell the equivalent of $170 million dollars in military equipment to the Kremlin, while Germany invoiced $130 million dollars to the Russians and Italy obtained contracts for $25 million dollars.
At 2015, Rome authorized the sale of Lynce all-terrain military vehicles to Moscow, which have been seen in Ukraine since the war began on the Italian television channel La7.
Despite the fact that the European Union imposed an embargo on arms sales, the investigative website Disclose reports that, between 2015 and 2020, France issued 76 export licenses to Russia for military equipment.
According to a report by Investigate Europe, ten member states of the European Union continued to send arms to Russia after the embargo, with Aust ria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, Slovakia and Spain on the list.
Figures from the European Council Working Group on Conventional Arms Exports reveal that the ten EU states exported military equipment worth a total of $383 million dollars to Russia between 2014 and 2020.
Of the ten, France supposedly represented the 44 percent of sales, with aircraft, navigation systems, torpedoes and missiles among the equipment shipped.
In 2015, French President François Hollande was pressured to drop plans to send two amphibious assault ships from class Mistral to Russia, but successive French governments took advantage of the loophole.
Britain also sold arms to Russia after the embargo was imposed, but only worth $2.4 million worth .
After s of circumventing the Russian arms embargo, the mayor of kyiv sharply criticized Germany by offering to send 5,000 helmets for support Ukrainian forces against Putin’s troops.
Former boxer-turned-politician Vitali Klitschko mocked the offer and asked if the nation would like to send pillows instead, since Berlin refused to send weapons to Ukraine.
But just a few days after the invasion, Germany relented to pressure and reversed its historic policy of not sending weapons to conflict zones, offering to deliver 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 383 Stinger anti-aircraft defense systems to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine stalls and the United States States estimates that some 30, Russian soldiers have been killed or captured since the conflict began.
Those of Ukrainian challengers have been seizing Russian equipment to use against them as the war continues into its fourth week. by sending more teams.
“We are all targeted by Russia and everything will go against Europe if Ukraine does not resist, so I would like to ask you to help yourself by helping us” , said Zelensky.
“They know the weapons we need. They know what kind of defense measures we need. They know that what we need are fighter planes and without their support it would be very difficult”.
“’We want you to help us and I hope you can improve that support and you will see how this will protect your safety and how that will make a stable peace not only for us, but also for your countries”. Ukrainian forces put into service the captured Russian weapons and machinery.
The Ukrainian president once again asked Washington and its NATO allies to impose a no-fly zone to ensure that “Russia cannot terrorize our free cities.”
He addressed Joe Biden directly and said: “I want you to be the world leader. Being the leader of the world means being the leader of peace.”
Biden and NATO have resisted Zelensky’s pleas for direct involvement against Russia, warning that it could lead to World War III.
But the president of the United States this week unveiled his latest package of aid to Ukraine to add to the $25,500 million dollars in military and humanitarian aid already approved.
The United States said it would provide long-range missile defense and Switchblade armed drones, which will allow kyiv forces to better defend themselves against Russian aircraft from a distance.
The West has increased the range of powerful weapons supplied to Ukraine, sending Bayraktar TB2 drones, Stinger missiles and man-portable anti-tank weapons.
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