German arms exports reached record highs for the second year in a row, and the main reason for this is the continued and increasing military aid to Ukraine, reported the federal Ministry of Economy, quoted by DPA, conveyed to BTA.
Between January 1 and June 18, the German government approved arms exports worth at least 7.48 billion euros, or 30% more than in the first half of last year, the department revealed in response to a parliamentary question by Sevim Dagdalen, MP from the populist "Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance".
About 65% of exports, or 4.88 billion euros, were intended to help Ukraine in its now more than two-year battle to repel a full-scale Russian invasion. In 2023, the German government again reported a record in arms exports, authorizing sales for 12.2 billion euros, the main share of which again falls on the provision of military support to Kiev.
This year, after a gap of several years, Saudi Arabia returns to the top five countries buying German arms. The reason for the temporary absence of the rich country from the Gulf region was a moratorium imposed by Berlin on exports to this destination because of the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and also because of Riyadh's intervention in the civil war in Yemen.
Khashoggi was brutally murdered in the building of the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul by a specially dispatched team of assassins.
Berlin subsequently decided to ease the restrictive regime on arms exports to Saudi Arabia after the kingdom ended its involvement in the fighting in Yemen. According to the Ministry of Economy, since the beginning of the year, Germany has approved the sale of weapons to Riyadh for 132.48 million euros.