France becomes world's second largest arms exporter, overtaking Russia - Politico

Politico reports.

The study compares the period from 2019 to 2023 with the period from 2014 to 2018. 

France ranks second after the United States, whose share of global arms exports has increased from 34% to 42%.

Over the past five years, France has significantly increased its share of the export market from 7.2% to 11% by supplying arms to regions such as India, where Russia was the main arms supplier. Moscow's share of global arms exports fell from 21% to almost 11%, slightly lower than France's.

"The decline in Russian arms exports started before the full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022," said Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

However, according to him, sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine appear "to have further contributed to the increase in French arms exports."

• On March 2, it was reported that exports from Turkey to Russia in February fell by 34% to $670 million compared to the same period last year.