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Ukraine, this is how France armed Russia (until 2020)

2 years ago babelfish

Ukraine, this is how France armed Russia (until 2020)

Arms of France to Russia until 2020: the investigation by the newspaper Disclose and the position of the French Ministry of Defense

France continued to deliver military equipment to Russia until 2020 despite the 2014 EU embargo.

The online media Disclose revealed this on Monday 14 March, with an investigation based on classified documents and open sources.

On Monday, the French Armed Forces Ministry confirmed revelations in the online media Disclose , according to which France continued to sell military equipment to Russia from 2014 until 2020. But everything is within the limits of legality, the ministry said.

Since 1 August 2014, the European Union has in fact imposed an embargo on the export of arms to Russia in response to the war in Donbass and the annexation of Crimea. So much so that in 2015 the then French president François Hollande canceled the sale of two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia in 2015 under pressure from European countries and the United States. But without putting an end to discreet arms deliveries to Russia.

However, there is no violation of the European embargo, since it is not retroactive. Therefore the French government in the following years decided to continue the delivery of equipment, based on contracts signed before the embargo.

Military equipment that would now be used by Russian troops in Ukraine.

All the details.

LEGAL SALES

Hervé Grandjean, spokesman for the Ministry of the Armed Forces, clarified the question following the publication of Disclose .

On Twitter, Grandjean specified that these sales are legal because they are based on contracts that precede European sanctions.

“France has allowed the execution of some contracts stipulated since 2014 with the so-called“ grandfather ”clause. A contract concluded before the annexation of Crimea can be terminated and deliveries of equipment purchased before July 2014 can be continued. This possibility is clearly foreseen by the sanctioning regime put in place against Russia in 2014 ”, explained the French defense spokesman.

THE FRENCH WEAPONS SUPPLIED TO RUSSIA

Notably, according to Disclose , France continued to supply Russia with thermal cameras to equip armored vehicles currently used by the Russian military in the war in Ukraine. But also navigation systems and infrared detectors for fighter planes and helicopters.

"This equipment installed on combat helicopters, bombers, tanks is used today against civilians in the conflict in Ukraine", assures Ariane Lavrilleux, co-author of the investigation.

LICENSES GRANTED TO SAFRAN AND THALES

In total, France has allegedly issued at least 76 war material export licenses to Russia since 2015 for a total amount of 152 million euros, mainly for the benefit of Safran and Thales, giants of the French military industry of which the state is the main shareholder. .

Specifically, the licenses cover Thales' state-of-the-art Tacan navigation system for 60 Sukhoi Su-30 fighters, 55 Russian tank thermal imaging cameras, 800 Catherine XP thermal cameras with night vision to identify human targets. The Mig-29 and SU-30 are also equipped with a navigation system delivered by Safran since 2014: the Sigma 95N.

Finally, Disclose reports that the Russian Army Ka-52 helicopters flying over Ukraine today have an infrared imaging system manufactured by Safran on board. According to Disclose, Sofradir, owned by Safran and Thales, signed a € 5.2 million contract with Russia in October 2012. According to a note discovered by the investigation site, Sofradir has not yet delivered "258 infrared detectors" to the Russian company TCP Linko.

EXPORTS DECREASED OVER THE YEARS

However, these arms exports to Russia have declined significantly over the years. From 80 million euros in 2014, the amount of equipment deliveries rose to 5.5 million in 2018 and only 300,000 euros in 2020, according to the report of the Ministry of the Armed Forces delivered annually to parliamentarians, quoted by spokesman Grandjean on Twitter. By contrast, arms sales to Ukraine skyrocketed from zero in 2015 to € 97 million in 2020, reports Le Monde newspaper .

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/ucraina-ecco-come-la-francia-ha-armato-la-russia-fino-al-2020/ on Wed, 16 Mar 2022 14:58:53 +0000.