More and more large weapons are flowing to Europe. Due to the war in Ukraine, arms imports have increased sharply in recent years. – A sign that the world is gearing up, says peace researcher Pieter D Wezeman. In recent years, the European NATO countries have increased their arms imports by 65 percent, according to a report from the peace research institute Sipri. The grim development – which began already in connection with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 – shows that the possibilities for disarmament and arms limitation are now even smaller than before, says Pieter D Wezeman, senior researcher on arms transfers at Sipri. – It is a sign that the countries really see military means as the most important answer to the increased threat picture they see in Europe. Poor security situation The increased European imports are not unexpected due to the war in Ukraine, according to Wezeman. The arms import is just another way to highlight that the security situation in the world does not look good. – It simply shows that in large parts of the world there is a belief that weapons play an important role in defending countries and preventing conflicts. With Russia’s war of aggression, Ukraine became the world’s third largest arms importer last year. From 1991 until the end of 2021, the country imported few major weapons, something that changed drastically in connection with the invasion last February. India remains the largest India remains the world’s largest importer, but Saudi Arabia and Qatar also stand out. Iran, which between 2018 and 2022 bought virtually no major weapons at all, has now ordered 24 fighter jets from Russia. The war in Ukraine is also reflected in the export figures. The world’s arms exports have been dominated by the US and Russia for three decades, but now the gap between them is widening. Watch an interview with Pieter D Wezeman in the clip above.
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New report: Arms imports to Europe to double by 2022
