‘Ukraine top arms importer in 2020-24, India 2nd’

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 percent 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 percent 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 percent, while Russia’s exports fell by 64 percent, 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 percent higher than in 2005–2009), as increasing imports in Europe and the America 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 percent of global arms exports) fell to third place behind France (9.6 percent), while Italy (4.8 percent) 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 percent of global arms imports in 2020–24.

“Most of the major arms supplied to Ukraine came from the US (45 percent), followed by Germany (12 percent) and Poland (11 percent). 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 percent), China (17 percent) and Kazakhstan (11 percent), as per SIPRI data.

“France became the world’s second largest arms supplier in 2020-24, delivering arms to 65 states,” it said.

India received by far the “largest share” of French arms exports (28 percent) -- almost twice the share that went to all European recipients combined (15 percent). The largest share of Indian arms imports (36 percent) came from Russia, a significantly smaller share than in 2015-19 (55 percent) and 2010-14 (72 percent), 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 percent of Pakistan’s arms imports in 2020-24, compared to 74 percent in 2015-19,” SIPRI said. With the sharp drop in China’s arms imports, and marked decreases in imports by Taiwan (-27 percent) and South Korea (-24 percent), arms imports by East Asian states shrank by 22 per cent between 2015-19 and 2020-24. Japan (+93 percent) was the only East Asian state that saw an increase in its arms imports, it added.