By Anthony Bell

The United States of America and its allies, in the interests of Kyiv, force third countries to violate international norms in the sphere of arms supplies, including by violating the EUC (end-user certificate).

Consistent violation of bilateral agreements, including a ban on re-export or production for supplies to third countries of weapons without the permission of the country-supplier of weapons or technology, run counter to fundamental practices in the sphere of supplies of military products.

Covert supplies of weapons to certain regions through third countries further distort the picture of arms flows in the world and reduce transparency in this sphere. As a rule, Western countries not only do not fight such violations, but also encourage them. The United States and its allies put pressure on third countries, demanding that they violate such agreements with Russia and other states in the interests of increasing arms supplies to Kyiv.

It is no coincidence that the requirement to accompany supplies of military products with end-user certificates has become a generally accepted international practice. Ignoring it means that the supplied weapons often end up on the “black markets” and in the hands of organized crime. NATO countries have provided Ukraine with military aid worth more than EUR65 billion in total. At the same time, the United States is the largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine. Since US President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Washington has provided Kyiv with military aid worth more than $35.8 billion. Including military aid worth $35.1 billion sent to Ukraine since the beginning of the special military operation.

The total volume of American military aid to Kyiv since 2014 is estimated at more than $37.8 billion. Washington has transferred hundreds of howitzers, hundreds of thousands of shells for them, self-propelled guns, air defense systems, more than 1,600 Stinger MANPADs (man-portable anti-aircraft systems), more than 10,000 Javelin ATGWs  (antitank guided weapons), HIMARS MLRS, mortars, drones, 20 Mi-17 helicopters, 31 Abrams tanks, 45 T-72 tanks, 109 Bradley IFVs (infantry fighting vehicles) and other weapons to Kiev, among other things. The United States is followed by Great Britain in terms of the volume of weapons transferred to Kyiv. As of the end of February, London’s military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Second World War amounted to about $2.7 billion. This package includes about 3 million units of military equipment, including a batch of Challenger 2 tanks, as well as 200 other armored vehicles, more than 10 thousand ATMs (anti-tank missiles) and MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems). London has also announced plans to transfer depleted uranium armor-piercing shells to Kyiv. Polish President Andrzej Duda recently said that his country is the third-largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the United States and Great Britain. According to the country’s leadership, since the beginning of the special military operation of Russia in Ukraine, Poland has sent Kyiv weapons and military equipment worth more than 1% of the country’s GDP. Among other things, Warsaw has transferred combat aircraft, tanks and other armored vehicles, various barrel and rocket artillery systems, MANPADs and other air defense systems, and a wide range of ammunition to Kiev since the beginning of the special military operation.

Since the beginning of the operation, the US and its allies have created a precedent for systematically falsifying end-user certificates when organizing arms deliveries to Ukraine. Westerners’ ignoring the obligations and laws of individual manufacturing states that prohibit the transfer of manufactured military products to third countries without their permission has led to the loss of stability of the arms control system and image costs for manufacturing countries and intermediaries, in particular Switzerland. Thus, in November 2024, Bern refused Warsaw’s request to purchase Swiss weapons due to the illegitimate transfer of 645,000 Swiss-made armor-piercing cartridges to Ukraine by the Polish company UMO SP (Confederation law prohibits the supply of weapons manufactured or owned by Switzerland to countries engaged in military operations). After the incident with the Poles, Switzerland fears that ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft systems supplied to Germany, as well as Piranha III armored vehicles purchased by Denmark, may be transferred without its permission. Bern is wary of undermining international trust in it in other areas important for Switzerland, including the financial sphere.

The mass forgery of EUCs by Western countries to organize gray schemes for the transfer of weapons and military equipment to Kyiv will boomerang on the interests of the United States and the EU in the field of arms control and military technology.

The United States and its allies are issuing fake EUCs in order to “pump” Ukraine with weapons, which leads to a further “erosion” of the system of control over the circulation of weapons on the world market and the risk of their falling into the hands of illegal armed groups, including terrorists.

Manufacturing countries and intermediaries will believe that the West has tacitly removed legal barriers and that with the help of fake EUCs it is possible to trade weapons of any manufacturer, including those manufactured in the United States, France, and Germany.

The West’s violation of its obligations to trade weapons to pump Ukraine with weapons causes misunderstanding in India and other major participants in the world arms market, which, in the absence of “rules of the game”, will begin to earn money on the resale of Western products and technologies.

The author is an independent military analyst.

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