SIPRI: Europe is the main focus for weapons exporters

Even before the Ukraine war broke out, European weapons imports saw a marked increase, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SIPRI. And the figures for 2021 were a sign of things to come.

According to SIPRI, the past five years in weapons sales give an idea of things to come

Figures on global arms sales take on a special significance against the backdrop of a war in Europe. The Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) compared weapons trade figures from 2017 to 2021 with the previous five-year period and found an indication of an enormous increase in tension across Europe before the current escalation.

While global trade in major arms declined by 4.6%, European countries increased their arms purchases by 19%, which amounts to the biggest increase of all world regions. Pieter Wezeman, one of the authors of the SIPRI study, called this a “worrying arms build-up”.

Ian Anthony, SIPRI program director for European Security, told DW that the latest figures reflect Europe’s response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and Russia’s aggression in the Donbas region: NATO allies then committed themselves to “reverse the trend of declining defense budgets.”

“What you see reflected in the numbers now is largely a consequence of implementing that decision,” Anthony said.