The French organization Disclose published a leak of the annual report on France's foreign arms contracts, after the Ministry of the Armed Forces delayed making it available to the public. This report reveals that France sold $7 million worth of weapons in 2021 to Russia, which used this weapon in its recent war in Ukraine.
After it was delayed for months, the annual report on foreign arms sales to France became publicly available, not via the ministry's website, as was customary, but in a leak published by the French "Disclose" organization, which specializes in journalistic investigations, which accused the country's Defense Ministry of trying to bury that report.
The leaked report reveals that France, in 2021, supplied a shipment of military equipment worth 7 million euros to the Russian army, circumventing a law enacted by the European Union to ban the supply of arms to Russia, since the first sparks of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict erupted in 2014.
At a time when this is not the first time that France has violated that ban, according to another investigation by the same organization, but since 2015, Paris has supplied Moscow with military equipment, most of which were documented during the recent attack on Ukraine, which has been going on since February 27 Past.
French weapon against Ukraine
A previous investigation published by the same organization last March stated that between 2015 and 2020, France supplied the Russian army with weapons worth 152 million euros, distributed in 76 deals. This continued until the summer of 2021, when it sold Moscow a satellite used for military purposes, and thermal binoculars manufactured by the local company, Thales, in a deal worth a total of 7 million euros.
In 2015, the aforementioned company sold the Russian army advanced "Catherine XP" thermal cameras, which are often equipped with tanks and combat armored vehicles. These cameras can locate human targets and vehicles in the dark from 10 kilometers away. According to estimates by the "Euobserver" website, about 1,000 Russian T-72 tanks were equipped with cameras made by the French "Thales" industry.
Thales is not the only French defense industry company that concludes deals with the Russians. Safran has also received Matis STD thermal cameras, which are equipped with the T-72, T-90 and T tanks. -81 BVM" Russian-made.
During the first targeting of the Zaporozhye nuclear plant, on March 4, the Ukrainian president accused Russia of "nuclear terrorism", stressing that the missiles that hit the station were not by mistake because "Russian tanks know well their targets", alluding to the technology of thermal cameras. supplied with it.
In addition, between 2014 and 2018, the French Thales supplied 60 Russian Su-30 fighters with the TACAN air navigation system, the SMD55S display and the HUD targeting system. These fighters are documented as they demolish the city of Sumy, Chernhav and Mykolaiv, during the early days of the war.
Violation of the ban and blackout the report
According to the Disclose organization, France violated the European arms embargo to Russia in 2014, taking advantage of a loophole that this law was "not retroactive", meaning that it does not include contracts signed before the date of its entry into force.
The organization suggested that the French Ministry of Defense tried to obscure its annual report on French defense exports, as French law provides for the presentation of that report to Parliament last June, and after that it is published directly to the public, but the aforementioned ministry delayed its presentation to deputies for a whole month, and has not yet published it on Its official website.
In response to the inquiries of "Disclose" journalists about the reasons for this delay, the new French Defense Minister Sebastien Locarno replied that "the date of publishing the report to the public is due to the decision of parliamentarians."
Tags:
YOU KNOW THAT