While the Russia-Ukraine war was going on, calls came from the Western world to stop the war one after another. In order to weaken Russia’s hand, European Union member states announced heavy economic sanctions against Russia. However, a controversial claim has been made regarding the equipping of the Russian army by France and the use of the equipment in the occupation of Ukraine.
According to the news of Disclose website, which is based on confidential and official documents, France equipped the Russian army with state-of-the-art military equipment in the period 2015-2020, thus modernizing the Russian land and air forces.
France has delivered 76 combat equipment to Russia since 2015. According to the report of the French Parliament, the value of these equipments is 152 million euros.
Among the equipment sold to Russia are thermal cameras aimed at equipping more than 1000 Russian tanks, navigation systems for warplanes and helicopters of the Russian Air Force. Thales and Safran companies, of which the French state is the most important partner, sold these equipments.
Thermal cameras can target people at night and detect vehicles at a distance of 10 kilometers. According to Thales, these cameras are capable of firing.
Attention was drawn to the statement of the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelenskiy, that “Russian tanks were equipped with thermal cameras” during Russia’s attack on the Zaporija Nuclear Power Plant on March 4. These cameras may belong to the French companies Thales or Safran.
ALLEGED “WAR PLANES USED IN SYRIA AND UKRAINE”
In the images shared on social media, it proves that the “Matis STD” type thermal cameras that France sold to Russia equipped 3 Russian tanks of “T-72”, “T-90” and “T-80” type currently in the war in Ukraine. . The aforementioned images were also shared in the news.
These cameras were used against Ukraine by the Russian army in Donbas in 2014.
France also signed a contract with Russia for the sale of 60 “SU-30” type fighter jets manufactured by Thales in 2014. These aircraft were delivered to Russia until 2018. It was claimed that these warplanes caused the death of dozens of civilians in Syria and were used in the war in Ukraine. The planes in question were seen on March 5 in the airspace of Sumi, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv regions in the northeast of Ukraine.
DELIVERY UNDER HAND
It was emphasized that these sales were made despite the arms embargo imposed by the European Union (EU) on Russia since 1 August 2014. Weapons deliveries can be made within the scope of the contract signed before this date, but the EU Commission, who made a statement to Disclose, said that EU member states should respect the common attitude taken in 2008, and these deliveries should be stopped if the weapons delivered to a country are used in a war.
President of the time, François Hollande, stopped selling 2 Mistral warships to Russia, under pressure from his European partners and the USA, but arms deliveries continued “secretly”. It was noted that Hollande and his successor, Emmanuel Macron, did not stop arms sales and deliveries to Russia.
France provided military support to Russian President Vladimir Putin, continuing arms deliveries until 2020.
It was considered a “paradox” for Macron to defend that diplomatic means should be prioritized in tensions and conflicts in the international arena, on the one hand, and to continue to supply arms to Russia, on the other. (AA)