New Delhi: Ukraine, which is embroiled in a prolonged conflict with Russia, was the world’s largest importer of major arms during 2020-24, when its imports increased nearly 100 times as compared to the figures for 2015-19, a new global report said.
India was the world’s second largest arms importer during the period under review, with its imports reflecting “perceived threats from both China and Pakistan”.
However, India’s imports decreased by 9.3 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24, according to a statement by independent global think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which published the report.
“European arms imports overall grew by 155 per cent between the same periods, as states responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the uncertainty over the future of US foreign policy,” it said.
The US further increased its share of global arms exports to 43 per cent, while Russia’s exports fell by 64 per cent, as per the new data on international arms transfers published by SIPRI on Monday.
The Ukraine-Russia conflict began in February 2022 and efforts are currently being made by certain quarters to resolve it and bring lasting peace in the region.
“Ukraine became the world’s largest importer of major arms in the period 2020-24, with its imports increasing nearly 100 times as compared to 2015-19,” SIPRI said in the statement.
The overall volume of arms transfers globally remained at roughly the same level as in 2015–19 and 2010–14 (but was 18 per cent higher than in 2005–2009), as increasing imports in Europe and the Americas were offset by decreases in other regions.
“The top 10 arms exporters in 2020–24 were the same as those in 2015–19, but Russia (accounting for 7.8 per cent of global arms exports) fell to third place behind France (9.6 per cent), while Italy (4.8 per cent) jumped from 10th to sixth place,” the statement said.
“At least 35 states sent weapons to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and substantial further deliveries are in the pipeline. Ukraine received 8.8 per cent of global arms imports in 2020–24.
“Most of the major arms supplied to Ukraine came from the US (45 per cent), followed by Germany (12 per cent) and Poland (11 per cent). Ukraine was the only European state among the top 10 importers in 2020–24, although many other European states significantly increased their arms imports during the period,” SIPRI said.
Russia delivered major arms to 33 states in 2020-24. Two thirds of Russian arms exports went to three nations — India (38 per cent), China (17 per cent) and Kazakhstan (11 per cent), as per SIPRI data.
“France became the world’s second largest arms supplier in 2020-24, delivering arms to 65 states. France’s exports of major arms to other European states almost trebled between 2015-19 and 2020-24 (+187 per cent). This was mainly due to deliveries of combat aircraft to Greece and Croatia, and arms supplies to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022,” it said.
India received by far the “largest share” of French arms exports (28 per cent) — almost twice the share that went to all European recipients combined (15 per cent).
The second largest recipient of major arms from France was Qatar (9.7 per cent of French arms exports), the think-tank said.
China was the fourth largest exporter of arms in 2020-24, with 5.9 per cent of global arms exports.
Despite China’s efforts to increase its arms exports, many large importers do not buy Chinese arms for “political reasons”, the statement noted.
The largest share of Indian arms imports (36 per cent) came from Russia, a significantly smaller share than in 2015-19 (55 per cent) and 2010-14 (72 per cent), it said.
“Arms imports by Pakistan grew by 61 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24. China became even more dominant as its supplier, accounting for 81 per cent of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2020-24, compared to 74 per cent in 2015-19,” SIPRI said.
With the sharp drop in China’s arms imports, and marked decreases in imports by Taiwan (-27 per cent) and South Korea (-24 per cent), arms imports by East Asian states shrank by 22 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24. Japan (+93 per cent) was the only East Asian state that saw an increase in its arms imports, the think-tank added.
SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
“The new arms transfers figures clearly reflect the rearmament taking place among states in Europe in response to the threat from Russia,” Mathew George, programme director with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Arms imports by the European NATO members more than doubled between 2015–19 and 2020–24 (+105 per cent). The US supplied 64 per cent of these arms, a substantially larger share than in 2015–19 (52 per cent).
The other main suppliers were France and South Korea (accounting for 6.5 per cent each), Germany (4.7 per cent) and Israel (3.9 per cent).
Arms exports by the US increased by 21 per cent between 2015–19 and 2020–24, and its share of global arms exports grew from 35 per cent to 43 per cent. The US supplied major arms to 107 states in 2020–24, SIPRI said in the statement.
“In contrast to the US, arms exports by Russia fell sharply (–64 per cent) between 2015–19 and 2020–24,” the statement said.
Four states in Asia and Oceania ranked among the 10 largest arms importers globally in 2020–24 — India, Pakistan, Japan and Australia.
China dropped out of the top 10 arms importers’ list for the first time since 1990–94, the statement said.
