Bosnia and Herzegovina denies supplying weapons to Ukraine amid record arms exports

Defense Express reports.

Amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, even those countries that had not previously been on the radar are beginning to show a sharp jump in exports of arms and ammunition. One such example is Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Official statistics from this country show that the volume of arms and ammunition exports in 2023 rose sharply to $178 million, or 22% more than in 2022. And in the first 5 months of 2024, Bosnia and Herzegovina sold $74 million worth of arms and ammunition, which is twice as much as in the same period in 2023.

At first glance, it seems obvious that this strange record of arms exports from Bosnia and Herzegovina is directly related to the Russian war against Ukraine, and that the supplies are aimed at strengthening the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But no, the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina deny that they are supplying Ukraine with anything at all, and instead claim that they sell all their weapons to the United States and the European Union.

However, this is also strange, since the United States and the EU are not currently at war, and therefore have no direct need to buy ammunition from Bosnia and Herzegovina as a "third country" for their own needs. Therefore, it is likely that Ukraine is the actual recipient of all the supplies, although the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina itself denies this fact.

However, it should be further emphasized that the possible sources of supply from Bosnia and Herzegovina could be not only possible local production, but also the arsenal of weapons that has been accumulated in the country. And who would have thought that we are talking about an arsenal of several tens of thousands of tons of ammunition and even 100 D-30 howitzers.

And the Defense Ministry of this country has only "on paper" adopted 100,000 units of small arms and other weapons. And all this property is surplus, especially if we take into account the fact that according to Military Balance 2023, the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina has only 10,500 soldiers, organized into 3 light infantry brigades.