Military expert Kramnik: It will be difficult for NATO to replenish its arsenals
It will be difficult for NATO countries to replenish their arsenals, because business is not ready to invest in the production of weapons. Military expert Ilya Kramnik told Izvestia about this on June 19.
Thus, he commented on the words of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, that NATO's arsenals have been emptied and should be restored as soon as possible.
"Ukraine was supplied with a fairly large amount of ammunition and equipment from what was available, that is, from long-term storage warehouses, warehouses often intended for disposal, especially Soviet ammunition. It was all easy to convey. Then there are Western weapons, there were also arsenals accumulated since the Second World War, although not so huge, especially considering that a significant part was reduced," the expert said.
According to Kramnik, large investments are needed to increase the production of military equipment, and problems arise here.
"Someone else has to pay, and industry and banks are not ready to invest in this without a guarantee of long-term large orders. No one gives them such guarantees. Basically, the estimated pace of ordering military equipment remains at a fairly low level," he said.
The interlocutor of Izvestia explained that, for example, it is impossible to launch a production line of Leopard tanks for Ukraine, since it is unprofitable.
"Because the line will be deployed for this, quite a lot of money and resources will be invested in it, and then it is unclear whether it will be possible to find demand for those tanks that it can produce, and, accordingly, whether it will be possible to repel investments. Given that the industry is commercially owned, this is an important point," Kramnik added.
The expert noted that NATO can, for example, buy obsolete Western weapons from third countries, but not all will go on sale.
"Basically, the owner of large arsenals prepares them for some specific tasks of his own. For example, South Korea is not ready to share its reserves, it is ready to supply only a relatively limited number of shells to third countries to partially replace what they have transferred to Ukraine. And South Korea does not want to seriously spoil relations with Russia," he said.
In early June, Stoltenberg also stated that NATO countries should increase the production of weapons against the background of depletion of weapons stocks due to supplies to Kiev. He called on the countries of the bloc to sign contracts, only then, according to him, the industry will be ready to invest and increase production. Bloomberg reported at the same time that it was planned to agree on an action plan to increase production and increase joint purchases during the NATO summit meeting on July 11-12 in Vilnius.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Forum, in turn, stressed that by now the Russian military has destroyed about 30% of the armored vehicles supplied to Ukraine by the West.
Western countries have increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of Russia's special operation to protect the population of Donbass, which the Russian authorities announced on February 24, 2022, amid the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
