Ukraine not conducting defense trade with Russia. However Russian side supplying military hardware t

[zindapak]

The SIPRI institute information about the expansion of military and technical cooperation between the enterprises, that are parts of the Ukrainian state-owned defense concern “Ukroboronprom” with the defense companies of Russia, that is an aggressor country, is totally false.

In a press release on 22 February, “Ukroboronprom” said that the delivery and order transactions in conventional weapons between Ukraine and Russia stopped in 2014, as evidenced by a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The release came in response to an earlier publication by “Glavkom”. The internet outlet in an article that cited the findings of the SIPRI alleged that Russia has become the largest buyer of Ukrainian military products. The article said that Ukraine's defense exports to Russia have reached 169mn dollars last year, allegedly having demonstrated a 72% increase, i.e. higher than during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych.

“Ukroboronprom” reminded that in accordance with the decree of the President of Ukraine №691/2014 as of 27 August 2014, the National Security and Defense Council adopted a resolution "On the measures to improve the state military-technical policy." "In accordance with subparagraph 7 of paragraph 1 of this document, exports of military goods and dual-use items for the purpose of military end-use by Russian Federation are terminated," the company stressed.

The defense concern also reminded that in December 2016 SIPRI has published an updated rating of world manufacturers of weapons, in which SC “Ukroboronprom” was rated as 81 largest in the world. "In a year, the concern climbed up 11 positions, but domestic media, for some reason, snubbed the news, in contrast to the fake news that discredits Ukraine at the global level."

However Russian side continues to supply tanks, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank weapons to the rebels on the Eastern Ukraine. This is stated from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report (SIPRI), engaged in the study of the supply of arms. The exact scope of supply is not called. As follows from the study, the Russian arms exports increased by 4.7% between 2007-2011 and 2012-2016. Thus, from 2012 to 2016, Russia supplied arms to 50 countries, including terrorists in Donbas.

 

[zindapak]

Ukrainian media refute the attempts to promote a smear campaign against Ukraine launched using the findings of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on arms transfers on the global market.

Clearly, the disinformation campaign pursues specific goals.

1. First, it is used to show European partners that "while Europe subjects Russian companies to sanctions, Ukraine continues to sell its output to the Russian Federation."

2. Second, to show Ukrainians that their "state, instead of sending arms to the front line, sells it to the aggressor state".

3. Third, to undermine Ukraine's position on the international arms market because the SIPRI report makes it clear that Ukraine is putting up competition to Russia here.

4. Fourth, the Russian leadership, which organized yet another information attack against Ukraine, is thus trying to cover not only its failures on the global market but also its crimes in Donbas.

Some media juggled the data contained in the SIPRI report to allege that Ukraine's largest arms producers continue trading with Russia, which, according to the report, is the second biggest importer of Ukrainian military products.

Indeed, the exporters rating clearly shows that the share of Ukrainian arms on the Russian market is around 17% and thus, Russia ranks second among customers for Ukrainian arms.

Or that is how certain media interpreted the report.

The SIPRI's report covers a five-year period (from 2012 to 2016), not the last year exclusively. Indeed, Ukraine supplied military-purpose goods to Russia, but it did so back during Viktor Yanukovych's rule. For example, on May 7, 2012, Ukrainian state-owned enterprises were unexpectedly included in Russia's plan of the modernization of their defense industry. Apparently, the Kremlin had no doubts back then that it would soon gulp down the Ukrainian state to restore the old empire together with its system of military cooperation.

However in 2014, after the Kremlin launched aggression against Ukraine and after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed decree No. 691 "On measures to advance state military and technical policy," Ukrainian state-owned companies stopped supplying military-purpose and dual-purpose goods to Russia.

To see that exports to Russia stopped, it is enough to look at the data of the State Export Control Service which SIPRI receives each year.

In particular, the report for 2015, unlike in the previous years, does not contain any information about Ukrainian arms supplies to the Russian Federation. At the same time, Ukrainian-made military-purpose goods were in greater demand in other regions of the world.

It is obvious that in the past two years, Ukraine (the information contained in the SIPRI report) could diversify arms supplies, having abandoned the Russian market.

In 2016, the state-owned enterprise Ukroboronprom managed to sign 25 per cent more export contracts than in 2015. "Over the past year, we have exported equipment worth $750 million, which is 25% more than a year earlier," the company's deputy director, Denys Hurak, said.

Indeed, SIPRI published factual information on contracts worth $169 million between Ukraine and Russia, which were allegedly signed in 2016. Hardly did anyone pay attention to a note in small font in a memo to these contracts: it wrote that all supplies were halted back in 2014. But in most cases, the deadline for arms supplies was clearly indicated as 2016.

It turns out that figures for the past year include the remaining cost of procurement contracts suspended in 2014 which were not implemented.

The SIPRI methodology allows for changes to arms flows to be tracked and their geographical distribution to be determined. But overall, the data collected by this system, by and large, differs from official statistics.