Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on supplying man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS) and anti-tank missile weapons (ATMW) to Ukraine

The Western countries have begun large-scale shipments to Ukraine of Stinger MANPADS which are used to attack land-based and above-water targets at a distance of up to 8 km and an altitude of up to 3.5 km, as well as other portable systems including Javelins, NLAW and Carl Gustaf ATMWs, which, without exaggeration, are the most sensitive types of weapons.

The people behind these shipments are definitely aware of the growing threat of these high-precision weapons ending up in the hands of terrorists or illegal armed groups, not only in Ukraine, but in Europe as well. It is only a matter of time until these weapons end up on the gray market or in the hands of terrorists. MANPADS pose a great danger to civilian aviation, and ATMWs are a threat to railway transport and infrastructure.

The Western capitals are grossly ignoring a number of international agreements aimed at minimising the risk of MANPADS falling into the hands of terrorist or criminal elements, such as the 2007 UNGA Resolution 62/40 Prevention of the Illicit Transfer and Unauthorised Access To and Use of Man-Portable Air Defence Systems, and Elements for Export Controls of Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) adopted in 2003 which were agreed upon under the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies.

The above documents provide for the adoption, at the national level, of strict measures to control the export of MANPADS, the exchange of information on the status of MANPADS inventory and exports, ensuring reliable storage of this type of high-tech weapon, as well as the destruction of MANPADS when the number of them exceeds a level that is necessary for national security.

Within the framework of the 2018 European Parliament  resolution Arms Exports: Implementation of Common Position, the negligence shown by a number of EU countries with regard to re-exporting military equipment (including the most sensitive equipment), which is often carried out under gross violation of the terms and conditions provided for by the certificates issued to end users, was noted.

Official Brussels prefers to keep a low profile on this issue, while being well aware that for many years now European criminal groups have been receiving significant numbers of small arms and light weapons from Kosovo and Ukraine, and Bulgaria and Romania, which have increased many times over the pirate production of Russian/Soviet weapons models under expired licenses or even without them.

In this regard, we remind the representatives of the West of the inordinate amounts of money that, in the early 2000s, went into destroying surplus MANPADS in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Montenegro, Macedonia, Cambodia and Nicaragua, which was initiated under the Partnership for Peace programme. For example, about 3,000 surplus MANPADS were eliminated from the arsenals of the Ukrainian armed forces alone. Other similar measures include the Pentagon's long-term programme to buy back Stinger MANPADS, that had been previously supplied by the Americans to Afghanistan, from the Mujahideen, Al-Qaeda terrorists and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan extremists.

Clearly, the lessons have not been learned. The current political situation amid the blatant dictatorship of the United States has caused fundamental changes in the basic principles of control over the non-proliferation of particularly sensitive types of weapons that have been promoted by the EU for many years with the unwavering support of like-minded partners from Africa and Latin America, not only within the UN, but also on the platform provided by the international Arms Trade Treaty. In this regard, we can safely assume that the “collective West” gave the start to the large-scale spread of the most dangerous weapons around the world.

Once again, we call on the EU and NATO countries to stop the thoughtless flooding of the unviable Kiev regime with the latest weapons systems in order to avoid the enormous risk to international civilian aviation and other means of transport in Europe and beyond.