MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. Germany long looked the other way and promoted peace as its defense industry supplied weapons to hotspots around the globe, a source familiar with the situation told TASS on Monday.
The source spotlighted reports by the German nongovernmental organizations Facing Finance and Urgewald that, based on data for 2015-2020 that they examined, posted information to the ExitArms databank about more than 500 deals of international companies that supplied weapons to various parts of the world.
According to the data, Germany is the third-largest supplier by the number of countries that are customers. Products of 41 German defense industry companies were shipped to 16 countries over the period, including Indonesia, Egypt, India, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan. In total, 94 deliveries and 200 transactions were made, in which representatives of the German defense industry were involved directly or indirectly. Airbus Defense and Space, MTU Friedrichshafen, Rheinmetall and ThyssenKrupp were engaged in the sale of diesel engines, radar systems, frigates, helicopters, military aircraft, armored recovery vehicles, armored personnel carriers to conflicting sides.
"These figures are just the tip of the iceberg. They confirm that Berlin has long ceased to follow the principles that are now only hollow declarations, shamelessly conscience fueling conflicts in many regions of the world with weapons. As expected, no comment on that followed from the German government," the source said.
He said German politicians, while publicly reaffirming their pacifist views, in fact "hypocritically took advantage of vague phrasing," for example, the lack of a clear legislative definition of a "crisis region." The source said that the German authorities, long before the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, turned a blind eye to the activities of the national defense industry, which "behind the scenes" supplied weapons to conflicting sides around the world.