French military equipment today in Ukraine at the service of the Russians? According to the online investigative media [Disclose](https://disclose.ngo/fr/article/ukraine-france-a-livre-armes-russie), France has quietly equipped Vladimir Putin’s army between 2014 and 2020 to modernize its ground and air troops. Precisely, Paris would have issued 76 export licenses for war materiel to Russia since 2015, for a total amount of 152 million euros, the journalists reveal, through “confidential-defense” documents and open source information. Not lethal weapons, but high-tech equipment to accentuate Russian military superiority over its neighbor. The main beneficiaries of these contracts are the industrial companies Thales and Safran, in which the French state is the largest shareholder.
Since August 2014 and the start of the war in the Donbass, however, the European Union has imposed an embargo on Russia for all arms imports and exports. The export of goods and technologies for military use is also prohibited. Since the embargo is not retroactive, “the governments of François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron have taken advantage of a loophole”, Disclose reveals, by maintaining deliveries linked to contracts signed before the implementation of these sanctions. The European Commission reminded Disclose that these exports are supposed to respect “the 2008 common position”, which stipulates that member states must refuse arms exports if they can provoke or prolong an armed conflict.
### Cameras to “open fire” in Ukraine
During the fighting to take over the Zaporizhia power station, on the night of 3 to 4 March, a Russian tank shot triggered a fire in an administrative building. Although the fire did not cause any major damage, as it was too far away from the reactors, it caused worldwide anguish. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of stirring up “nuclear terror” by assuring that the Russian tanks “know what they are aiming at” thanks to the “thermal cameras” with which they are equipped.
What we learn from this Disclose investigation is that the thermal cameras in question could well be French-made. Thales signed two contracts with Russia, in 2007 and 2012, for the sale of two types of cameras: the “Catherine FC” and the “Catherine XP”. They are intended for “the Russian Army” according to a confidential defense memo consulted by the investigative media, and allow the aiming system of a tank to detect a human target in the middle of the night within a radius of ten kilometers. “These infrared cameras have already been used to “open fire” in Ukraine, says the investigation. That was in 2014, during the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass, as evidenced by a video from the time filmed inside a Russian T-72 tank.”
If it’s not Thales, it may be Safran. The French company also signed a sales contract in 2013 with Russia for hundreds of “Matis STD” cameras. In 2016, 211 were still to be delivered. They are now found on several types of Russian tanks: the T-72, T-90 and T-80 BVM. “All three are currently present on the Ukrainian front,” the survey concludes. In all, there are more than 1,000 Russian tanks that could potentially be equipped with these French technologies.
### For 5.2 million euros worth of cameras
Thanks to these companies, Russia not only has more fighter jets and helicopter gunships than Ukraine, it can also count on “state-of-the-art” sighting and navigation devices, sold by Thales and Safran. According to Disclose, Thales equipped 60 Russian Sukhoi-30s with its TACAN navigation system, SMD55S video display and state-of-the-art HUD sight between 2014 and 2018, for example. Today, these Russian fighters have been spotted over Sumy, Mykolayev and Chernihiv, some of the cities that are under the most violent air attacks.
The Ka-52 helicopter gunships, which swooped down on the Hostomel airport on the outskirts of Kyiv in the early hours of the war, are also equipped with infrared cameras. Sofradir, a French company owned by Safran and Thales (now Lynred), sold them to Russia. The 5.2 million euro contract was signed in 2012. According to a “confidential-defense” memo from 2016 to which Disclose had access, the company was still honoring its contract four years later: it had only “258 infrared detectors” left to deliver. With this advanced equipment, it is still difficult to believe that the residential buildings, hospitals and maternity wards hit by the Russian army since the beginning of the war are only “collateral damage”. The French defense industry has given it all the means to target them with precision.
Let’s also not forget supporting literal war criminals along with Russia in Libya.
You know how useless NATO is when a member can support Russia without any consequences.
Question to French. Will this affect upcoming president elections in France?
Hohoho this is a game you don’t wanna play. Take any country in the world that produces weapons, then track their exports long enough… you’ll draw a line to war crime.
Pretty stupid article. France refused to deliver frigates to Russia a few years back, it even made the news worldwide. Macron was Economy minister iirc, and he definitely opposed the transaction. Some people here say that Putin hasn’t forgotten.
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DeepL Translation:
French military equipment today in Ukraine at the service of the Russians? According to the online investigative media [Disclose](https://disclose.ngo/fr/article/ukraine-france-a-livre-armes-russie), France has quietly equipped Vladimir Putin’s army between 2014 and 2020 to modernize its ground and air troops. Precisely, Paris would have issued 76 export licenses for war materiel to Russia since 2015, for a total amount of 152 million euros, the journalists reveal, through “confidential-defense” documents and open source information. Not lethal weapons, but high-tech equipment to accentuate Russian military superiority over its neighbor. The main beneficiaries of these contracts are the industrial companies Thales and Safran, in which the French state is the largest shareholder.
Since August 2014 and the start of the war in the Donbass, however, the European Union has imposed an embargo on Russia for all arms imports and exports. The export of goods and technologies for military use is also prohibited. Since the embargo is not retroactive, “the governments of François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron have taken advantage of a loophole”, Disclose reveals, by maintaining deliveries linked to contracts signed before the implementation of these sanctions. The European Commission reminded Disclose that these exports are supposed to respect “the 2008 common position”, which stipulates that member states must refuse arms exports if they can provoke or prolong an armed conflict.
### Cameras to “open fire” in Ukraine
During the fighting to take over the Zaporizhia power station, on the night of 3 to 4 March, a Russian tank shot triggered a fire in an administrative building. Although the fire did not cause any major damage, as it was too far away from the reactors, it caused worldwide anguish. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of stirring up “nuclear terror” by assuring that the Russian tanks “know what they are aiming at” thanks to the “thermal cameras” with which they are equipped.
What we learn from this Disclose investigation is that the thermal cameras in question could well be French-made. Thales signed two contracts with Russia, in 2007 and 2012, for the sale of two types of cameras: the “Catherine FC” and the “Catherine XP”. They are intended for “the Russian Army” according to a confidential defense memo consulted by the investigative media, and allow the aiming system of a tank to detect a human target in the middle of the night within a radius of ten kilometers. “These infrared cameras have already been used to “open fire” in Ukraine, says the investigation. That was in 2014, during the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass, as evidenced by a video from the time filmed inside a Russian T-72 tank.”
If it’s not Thales, it may be Safran. The French company also signed a sales contract in 2013 with Russia for hundreds of “Matis STD” cameras. In 2016, 211 were still to be delivered. They are now found on several types of Russian tanks: the T-72, T-90 and T-80 BVM. “All three are currently present on the Ukrainian front,” the survey concludes. In all, there are more than 1,000 Russian tanks that could potentially be equipped with these French technologies.
### For 5.2 million euros worth of cameras
Thanks to these companies, Russia not only has more fighter jets and helicopter gunships than Ukraine, it can also count on “state-of-the-art” sighting and navigation devices, sold by Thales and Safran. According to Disclose, Thales equipped 60 Russian Sukhoi-30s with its TACAN navigation system, SMD55S video display and state-of-the-art HUD sight between 2014 and 2018, for example. Today, these Russian fighters have been spotted over Sumy, Mykolayev and Chernihiv, some of the cities that are under the most violent air attacks.
The Ka-52 helicopter gunships, which swooped down on the Hostomel airport on the outskirts of Kyiv in the early hours of the war, are also equipped with infrared cameras. Sofradir, a French company owned by Safran and Thales (now Lynred), sold them to Russia. The 5.2 million euro contract was signed in 2012. According to a “confidential-defense” memo from 2016 to which Disclose had access, the company was still honoring its contract four years later: it had only “258 infrared detectors” left to deliver. With this advanced equipment, it is still difficult to believe that the residential buildings, hospitals and maternity wards hit by the Russian army since the beginning of the war are only “collateral damage”. The French defense industry has given it all the means to target them with precision.
Let’s also not forget supporting literal war criminals along with Russia in Libya.
You know how useless NATO is when a member can support Russia without any consequences.
Question to French. Will this affect upcoming president elections in France?
Hohoho this is a game you don’t wanna play. Take any country in the world that produces weapons, then track their exports long enough… you’ll draw a line to war crime.
Pretty stupid article. France refused to deliver frigates to Russia a few years back, it even made the news worldwide. Macron was Economy minister iirc, and he definitely opposed the transaction. Some people here say that Putin hasn’t forgotten.
Edit: From the french [wiki](https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affaire_des_Mistral). It was in 2015, in response to the annexation of Crimea.