Obama said this month: “I have expressed some concerns, and I don’t think I am alone. . . . I think it would have been preferable to press the pause button.”
Still, no nation has stepped forward with money to help France avoid shouldering the financial burden of any cancellation alone. That, too, demonstrates the difficulty of achieving a unified Western response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, analysts said.
Just a few years ago, Russia’s military almost never bought equipment made outside the Soviet bloc. Even today, Russia remains a major arms exporter. But after Russia’s brief war with neighboring Georgia in 2008, top leaders rethought their old habits. Although Russia ultimately prevailed in that conflict, its soldiers proved ill-equipped and disorganized, struggling with Soviet-era equipment that failed them on numerous occasions. So leaders turned to the West to boost their capabilities.
“At the highest level they found that the Russian equipment didn’t live up to their expectations anymore,” said Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks arms transfers. The Russians began “buying not just complete weapons systems but also technology,” he said.
They found a continent that was eager to oblige. The 2008 global financial crisis and Europe’s subsequent economic struggles made policymakers desperate for any chance to boost jobs and exports.
Although precise figures are shrouded in secrecy and difficult to compile, France was the most enthusiastic trading partner, analysts say. Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic have also been involved in selling equipment to Russia in recent years, according to data compiled by SIPRI. The sales involve aircraft, armored vehicles and communications supplies.
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