ISTANBUL

From 2015 to 2020, after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, European countries continue to export arms and military licenses to Russia, worth €346 million (some $380 million).

During the six-year period, France was the largest arms provider of Russia among EU countries with €152 million ($167.15 million), the European Union 'Council Working Group on Conventional Arms Exports (COARM) reports said.

Germany, of which data does not exist in reports but collected from national reports by Investigate Europe, followed France with €121.8 million ($134 million).

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, a move widely viewed as illegal by the international community, including Turkiye and the UN General Assembly.

In the following year of the annexation, France sold arms to Russia worth €58.9 million, the highest level during the six-year period. Its exports totaled €48.9 million in 2016, €36 million in 2017, $5.5 million in 2018, $2.4 million in 2019 and $300,000 in 2020.

President Emmanuel Macron denied allegations that the government had breached European sanctions by approving the arms exports to Russia by saying that some of the arms contracts were suspended, as they were not consistent with international law and the situation at the time in 2014.

He also said that the equipment that was delivered to Moscow consisted of small quantities and marked the end of the contract prior to the embargo.

France's exports have critical importance for the Russian army, such as thermal imaging fire control systems for tanks and navigation systems for aircraft.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said before that Russian tanks were equipped with thermal imaging cameras when they were attacking Europe's largest nuclear power plant - Zaporizhzhia.

Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, and Slovakia were other EU-27 countries exporting arms to Russia between 2015 and 2020.

While Bulgaria's exports amounted to €16.5 million, Italy exported arms to Russia worth €22.5 million. Czech Republic's exports also totaled more than $14 million in the same period.

Besides the arms sales, European countries also issued around 1,000 military licenses to Russia during the same period, while 75% of licenses were issued by Austria.

On a value basis, licenses issued by France to Russia exceeded €1 billion level, while around 80% of this amount was in 2015.

In 2008, the EU Commission stated that if weapons delivered to a country are used in a war, these deliveries should be stopped.