SIPRI Institute Report: Europe is arming itself

While the global arms trade has declined slightly, European countries are increasingly importing weapons. According to a report by SIPRI, a Stockholm peace research institute, Russian aggression against Ukraine is war provocation.

Arms imports from European countries have risen sharply in the past four years. According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the background is Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Between 2018 and 2022, countries will buy twice as many weapons as they did in the previous five years, peace researchers said when a report on the global arms trade was released in Stockholm.

“After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European countries are looking to import more and more sophisticated weapons,” said SIPRI researcher Peter Wessmann. European NATO partners even increased their arms imports by 65 percent during the period under review compared to the previous five years. Overall, however, the global arms trade declined by about five percent.

The US is still an important arms exporter

According to the annual report, as in previous years, the US was the most important arms exporter with a 40 percent share. Russia is second with 16 percent contribution, followed by France with eleven percent and China with 5.2 percent.

With a share of 4.2 percent between 2018 and 2022, Germany is the fifth largest arms supplier. However, German exports fell by 35 percent compared to the previous five years.

Russian arms exports fell by 31 percent

The United States and Russia have been leading the list of the world’s most important arms exporters for years. During the period studied by peace analysts, the gap between the two countries has widened. Between 2018 and 2022, U.S. exports increased by 14 percent compared to the previous five years. Exports from Russia, on the other hand, fell by 31 percent.

Despite the decline, Russia continues to deliver more to China and Egypt, peace researchers said. There are also buyers in sub-Saharan Africa such as Angola, Nigeria and Mali. However, peace researchers expect Russian exports to continue to shrink as available weapons are needed by their own troops. In addition, potential buyers are under pressure from the United States and the Europeans, who have imposed economic sanctions on Russia.

11 percent of global arms sales went to India

As a country, India has recorded the highest imports in the world between 2018 and 2022, the report said. Eleven percent of global arms sales went to the South Asian country. Saudi Arabia (9.6 percent), Qatar (6.4 percent), Australia (4.7 percent) and China (4.6 percent) are also top importers.

According to the report, Ukraine was the world’s third largest arms importer in 2022. Ukraine’s importance in the international arms trade has increased sharply since the beginning of the Russian offensive on February 24, 2022 – NATO countries have not provided fighter jets or long-range missiles for fear of further escalation of the conflict with Russia. Ukraine, as Wessman points out. At the same time, the SIPRI researcher criticized the export of comparable weapons systems to other crisis regions.