The United States, its NATO allies in NATO and the European Union (EU) have shown a lack of principles in the way they are supplying Ukraine with weapons.
They are going against their declared undertakings on the transfer of modern special equipment to foreign customers, including man-portable anti-aircraft systems, anti-tank missile systems and multiple launch rocket systems.
At the same time there is a complete change in these states from the basic principles that they themselves have been advancing over the years of careful control of the export of weapons and military equipment and responsible behaviour when considering issues of their transfer to zones of armed conflicts.
The alleged “common position” adopted earlier by the EU prohibits the issuance of licenses for the supply of weapons if this creates obvious risks for their use for internal repression in the recipient country or will lead to a violation of international humanitarian law or will contribute to the outbreak or aggravation of armed conflicts and also carrying out offensive actions against third countries.
When making such decisions, EU member states should also take into account the risks of uncoordinated re-exports and weapons falling into illegal circulation (and such numerous precedents according to the European police already exist), the human rights situation in the recipient country and its implementation of its international obligations in general.
The international multilateral arms trade treaty, which entered into force in 2014 requires each conventional arms exporting state to assess in an objective and non-discriminatory manner the likelihood of whether the supplied military products will harm peace and security and whether
they can be used to commit or facilitate the commission of violations in the field of international humanitarian law as well as gender violence or acts of violence against women and children.
This agreement also explicitly states that a state party should not authorise the transfer of conventional weapons if, at the time of the decision to grant the authorisation it has reliable information about the existence of an intention to use them to commit acts of genocide, crimes against humanity serious violations of the Geneva conventions of 1949 pertaining to attacks on civilian objects or civilians (art. 6).
- Supply of weapons to Ukraine is violation of international laws
- Problems with Western weapons for Ukraine
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In accordance with long-standing international practice, deliveries of most types of weapons are always accompanied by the provision by the recipient country of the appropriate end- user certificate.
One of the key conditions of the certificate is the inadmissibility of the re-export of received weapons without the written consent of the exporting country. However, this provision is currently being violated by Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and a number of other NATO countries led by the United States which are trying to buy Russian/Soviet made weapons for the Kyiv regime around the world, including in African countries.
At the same time, a number of states on the continent are seriously thinking about resales in exchange for "modern" samples of Western production.
The organizers of such deliveries are hardly aware of the threat of weapons falling into the hands of nationalists, terrorists and gangs not only in Ukraine, but also abroad.
At the same time Western states grossly ignore a number of international agreements aimed at minimising risks in this area, including the UN General Assembly Resolution “On the Prevention of Illicit Transfer and Unauthorised Access and Use of MANPADS” No. 62/40 of 2008 as well as the agreement “Elements MANPADS Export Control” adopted in 2003 under the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls of Conventional Arms, Dual-Use Goods and Technologies.
At the same time the Euro-Atlantic allies are striving by any means neccesary to curtail Russia's military-technical cooperation with its traditional partners, including in Africa. In return, in fact absolutely nothing is given that would ensure the realisation of the right of
states to individual or collective self-defense, provided for in Article 51 of the UN Charter.
