Some European Union countries circumvented the embargo to sell weapons to Russia worth €350 million. 78% of the total sales came from France and Germany, which in 2015-2020 supplied Russia with military equipment worth more than 273 million euros. They sent Moscow equipment, including bombs, rockets, shells and cannons.
Pointing the finger at “Germany and France, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Great Britain,” the newspaper Telegraph said the weapons were sold even as Russia was preparing for special operations in Ukraine.
These countries circumvented the arms embargo imposed by the European Union on Russia in 2014 following the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas.
According to the British media, the supplies would not have stopped even last year, when Moscow was already preparing to invade Ukraine. German and French companies would have supplied about 78% of the total weapons.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the EU has imposed additional restrictions on the export of dual-use goods to Moscow. However, the loophole that allowed the embargo to be circumvented was closed only on April 8 under pressure from the Baltic and Eastern European member states of the European Union.