Fausto Carioti April 24, 2022
There are French and German bombs, rockets and missiles among the weapons Russia is using to invade Ukraine and subdue and kill those who defend it. And these are not antiques: the deliveries took place after 2014. That is, after the EU, in response to the Russian invasion of Crimea and with the indispensable consent of all its member states, imposed an embargo intended to prevent similar operations. In other words, the Presidents François Hollande (Socialist) and his successor Emmanuel Macron (middle, since 2017 in the Elysée) and the chancellor Angela Merkel (in office from 2005 to 2021) overturned the bans of the Union to which they were committed and presented bilateral relations with European goals Wladimir Putin and its Russia, from which their countries buy gas and oil. The news, which is destined to receive little or no coverage in the press and continental politics, was published yesterday by The Telegraph, a historic and highly influential British Conservative newspaper. His investigation, citing documents from Brussels, explains how “France and Germany have armed Russia with 273 million euros of military material now likely to be used in Ukraine”.
COMFORTABLE COVERAGE
The two countries “sent equipment, including bombs, rockets, missiles and weapons to Moscow, despite an EU-wide embargo on arms sales to Russia imposed after the 2014 annexation of Crimea.” The Telegraph also reports that “the European Commission was forced this month to close a ‘bug’ in its embargo after it was discovered that at least ten member states were exporting nearly €350 million worth of equipment to the Vladimir Putin regime to have. About 78% of this amount was supplied by German and French companies. France’s armament orders between 2015 and 2020 amounted to 152 million euros for bombs, missiles and torpedoes, thermal imaging cameras capable of equipping over a thousand Russian tanks, and navigation systems for fighter jets and wartime helicopters. The “made in Germany” offer, on the other hand, includes icebreakers, but also rifles and light armored vehicles for a total of 121.8 million euros.
The reason given in Paris is that although the deliveries were made after 2014, the contracts were signed in time to be fulfilled. The EU document, adopted in Brussels on July 31, 2014, effectively exempted from the embargo all supplies to Russia agreed before the following day (the occupation of Crimea had begun on February 20…) and created a comfortable gap for many. The Berlin government explains that the sale of this equipment by German companies was made under the Kremlin’s guarantee that it would only be used for civilian purposes: “If there is any evidence of any kind of military use, the exports will not be granted would have been. As late as 2021, when Putin was preparing to invade Ukraine under the eyes of the world, according to the European Commission, reported by the Telegraph, “EU countries sold Russia arms and ammunition worth 39 million euros.” Only on April 8, with the passing of the fifth sanctions package against Moscow and under pressure from the Baltic states and the eastern EU states, were all the weak points that made the embargo of 2014 bypassable (at least that is what we hoped) closed. … easy.
THE ROLE OF ITALY
A Romanian MEP from the Conservative and Reformist factions, Cristian Terhes, shared the Brussels documents with the English daily. His comment reads: “While Ukraine desperately asks for weapons to defend itself against Putin’s invasion, Germany and France remain silent but have been happy enough to quietly and shamefully sell their wares in Moscow.” Among the countries that received post-2014 civilian and dual-use military material sold to Russia, Italy is also there. Even if it is in third place, the value of the supplies is much lower, namely 22.4 million euros. Among the vehicles sold are the Lince light armored vehicles, manufactured by Iveco and used by the Russian army in Ukraine as well. Their sale was approved in 2015 at the time of the Renzi government. Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom also appear with progressively lower values in the ranking of EU countries that sold military equipment to Moscow after the annexation of Crimea.