In Europa imports wheelies almost of double in only one year. and theUkraine become the third destination of weapons around the world. A report from theInternational Institute for Peace Researchthink thank di Stockholm. According to the study only Qatar e India they imported more weapons than Kiev. Pieter Wezemansenior researcher on the institute’s Arms Transfer Program and co-author of the annual report for more than three decades, noted that while arms transfers are decreased globally last year, “those towards Europe have increased significantly due to tensions between the Russia and most of the other European states“. He added that after the invasion of Ukraine, European states want to import more weapons, “faster”. He adds that what he calls “a significant upsurge of the demand for arms”, moreover, which has not yet shown its full potential and will probably lead to new important increases”.
Ukrainewhich until now was a weak arms importer, has suddenly become the world‘s third largest destination – after the Qatar e l’India – as a direct consequence of Western military aid multiplied by 60 in 2022. Alone, Kiev concentrated the 31% of arms imports in Europa e 8% of world trade. In particular, according to the Stockholm institute, supplies in Kiev include above all second hand equipmentamong which about 230 American artillery pieces, 280 Polish armored personnel carriers or again over 7,000 British anti-tank missiles e anti-aircraft systems, in this case new. According to Wezeman “because of concerns about how the supply of fighter jets and long-range missiles could further aggravate the war in Ukraine, NATO states have rejected Ukraine’s requests in 2022. At the same time, they have supplied these weapons to other states involved in conflicts, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia”.
Apart from Ukraine, the growth of European imports still reached +35% in 2022, according to data from Sipri. As for the exports of weapons, Sipri notes that the United States increased them by 14% between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022, and Washington alone accounted for 40% of global arms exports in 2018-2022. Meanwhile, Russia’s arms exports fell by 31% between the two periods and its share of global arms exports fell from 22% to 16%, while the share of the France it increased from 7.1% to 11%.