The New York Times, citing “contract documents and other records,” writes that the deals go through a number of intermediaries and transit through seven countries in order to “bypass other countries’ arms export regulations.”
Since launching Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in February, the Biden administration has tacitly sped up private arms sales to Ukraine by hundreds of millions of dollars, reducing the week-long approval process to a few hours. Also, the State Department has accelerated the process of registration of new arms dealers.
“According to government documents, in the first four months of the year alone — according to the latest available data — the State Department authorized more than $300 million in private transactions with Ukraine,” the publication says.
This helped “open up another flow of weapons to the Ukrainian front” but also created a shadow market. “According to government advisers studying this trade, weapons sold through private intermediaries are much more likely to end up on the black market or even in the hands of American adversaries,” the publication writes, citing “recent experience in Afghanistan and Syria” where American weapons ended up from terrorist groups.
The administration of US President Joe Biden is encouraging private sector deals, as it saves the Pentagon from further depleting its own arsenal after several months of delivering weapons to Ukraine. And private sellers can provide weapons that the government cannot provide, such as Soviet-style weapons.
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