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An arms embargo of Russia went into effect back in 2015. A loophole allowed countries to continue arms shipments agreed to prior to that date. The two biggest users of said loophole were Germany and France. Together they sent nearly \u20ac275,000,000 worth of military equipment to Russia from 2015 to 2020.<\/p>\n
From The Telegraph<\/a>;<\/p>\n France continued to issue dozens of arms export licences to Russia after the EU imposed an embargo on weapons sales to Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime in 2014, media reports claim.<\/p>\n According to the investigative website Disclose, between 2015 and 2020 French companies exported military equipment to Russia worth \u20ac152m (\u00a3127m), with the government issuing companies more than 70 licences to export arms to Moscow.<\/p>\n Another report by the independent group of journalists Investigate Europe revealed that 10 EU member states continued to export military equipment to Russia after the 2014 embargo, but that France was by far the biggest offender, accounting for 44 per cent of sales.<\/p>\n Investigate Europe\u2019s probe reveals that since 2015, France has authorised the export to Russia of bombs, rockets, torpedoes, missiles and explosive charges, as well as imaging equipment, navigation systems, aircraft and \u201clighter-than-air vehicles\u201d.<\/p>\n Disclose reported that France had exported thermal imaging cameras for 1,000 Russian tanks after the embargo.<\/p>\n In response, the French Armed Forces Ministry said that France had \u201callowed the execution of certain contracts concluded before 2014\u201d, something that is permitted under the terms of the embargo.<\/p>\n This \u201cresidual flow\u201d of weapons to Russia had since \u201cgradually died out\u201d, the French government said.<\/p>\n The revelations come as Russia continues to subject the Ukrainian population to a barrage of bombs and missile attacks after launching a full-scale invasion of the country in late February.<\/p>\n Figures from the EU Council Working Party on Conventional Arms Exports (COARM), analysed by Investigate Europe, show that the number of licences issued by France allowing companies to export military equipment to Russia spiked in 2015, immediately after the EU embargo, which was implemented in response to Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea and involvement in the Donbas region.<\/p>\n In 2014, the report says, French authorities were still giving authorisation to send material to Russia including chemical agents, biological agents, riot control agents and radioactive materials.<\/p>\n The COARM data shows that 10 EU member states exported military equipment worth a total of \u20ac346 million to Russia between 2015 and 2020.<\/p>\n After France, Germany exported \u20ac122 million worth of what it called \u201cdual-use equipment\u201d, comprising mainly of icebreaker vessels but also rifles and \u201cspecial protection\u201d vehicles.<\/p>\n In 2015 Italy authorised the company Iveco to sell Lynce military all-terrain vehicles to Russia, which have since been spotted in the battlefield in Ukraine by Italian TV channel La7.<\/p>\n The other countries on the list are Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, Slovakia and Spain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Telegraph cribs a lot from Disclose NGO, whose original reporting can be found here. <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"