London. March 11th. INTERFAX - Russia took the third place among the largest arms exporters in the world, losing second place to France, the United States remains the leader, according to a report published on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
In the period 2019-2023, Russian arms exports fell by 53% compared to the previous five-year plan (2014-2018), the report says. In 2019, Russia exported the main types of weapons to 31 states, in 2023 - to only 12 countries. In 2019-2023, Asian countries accounted for 68% of the total volume of Russian arms exports, in particular, 34% to India and 21% to China.
U.S. arms exports increased by 17%, and its share in total global arms exports increased from 34% to 42%. The United States supplied major weapons to 107 states in 2019-2023, more than in any previous five-year period, and much more than any other arms exporter. The United States and Western European states together accounted for 72% of all arms exports in 2019-2023, compared with 62% in 2014-2018.
"The United States has strengthened its global role as an arms supplier, which is an important aspect of its foreign policy, exporting more weapons to more countries than at any time in the past," said Matthew George, director of the SIPRI arms supply program.
Arms exports from France increased by 47% in the period 2019-23 compared to the previous five-year period. For the first time, France became the second largest arms exporter, ahead of Russia. The largest share of France's arms exports (42%) fell on the States of Asia and Oceania, and another 34% on the countries of the Middle East. The largest recipient of French arms exports was India, which accounted for almost 30%. The increase in French arms exports was largely due to the supply of combat aircraft to India, Qatar and Egypt.
"France is using high global demand to boost its military industry through exports," said SIPRI researcher Katarina Jokic, "France has been particularly successful in selling its combat aircraft outside Europe."
As for the other 10 largest arms exporters after the United States, France and Russia, two of them saw export growth: Italy (+86%) and South Korea (+12%), while five countries saw a decrease: China (-5.3%), Germany (-14%), Great Britain (-14%), Spain (-3.3%) and Israel (-25%).
Arms imports by European states in 2019-2023 were 94% higher than in 2014-2018. Ukraine became the largest importer of weapons in 2019-2023 and the fourth largest in the world after at least 30 states supplied Ukraine with basic weapons as military aid since February 2022.
55% of arms imports by European states, which were supplied to the United States in 2019-2023, was a significant increase compared to 35% in 2014-2018. The next largest suppliers to the region were Germany and France, which accounted for 6.4% and 4.6% of imports, respectively.
"Since many expensive weapons have been ordered, including about 800 combat aircraft and helicopter gunships, European arms imports are likely to remain at a high level," said Peter Weseman, senior researcher at the SIPRI weapons transfer program. "Over the past two years, we have also witnessed a much greater demand for air defense systems in Europe."
