Argentina Adds Firearms to Ukraine War

Beyond the hope that the recent summit ended NATO’s 75-year existence, the reality is that the Atlantic alliance faces serious difficulties in successfully ending the war against Russia on Ukrainian territory.

In March 2023, the European Union pledged to send one million rounds of ammunition and ammunition to the Ukrainian front within a year. But, he was able to convert only half. Indeed, earlier this year, one of the main German arms companies, Rheinmetall, made a stark diagnosis: all West European ammunition manufacturers combined could only produce about 550,000 projectiles per year. Taking into account the low figure, only a fraction of that total would be allocated to the conflict in Ukraine.

The main difficulty for arms companies is a global shortage of guns and ammunition and a lack of money to feed the munitions industry, endless wars, new conflicts and increasingly unpredictability of governments reluctance to sign long-term contracts. the world Also, the so-called Czech initiative, which set up a global network to transfer missiles to Ukraine, has not lived up to initial expectations.

In February of this year, Prague announced that 800,000 artillery shells had been identified around the world, which could quickly make their way to Ukraine. But activity has been slow, with the first shipment in June containing fewer than 50,000 shells.

Of the 15 countries that offered to jointly buy ammunition for Ukraine, only six actually contributed. Germany alone provided more than $650 million in funding, while the request by leaders in a dozen countries is subject to parliamentary approval, amid complicated budget processes and investigations into allegations of corruption with military contractors.

In this context, Javier Millay’s government is analyzing the possibility of becoming a supplier of gunpowder and ammunition to Ukraine.

The rapprochement between Miley and President Volodymyr Zelensky began on December 10, 2023, when the Ukrainian president attended the inauguration of the Argentine president. The first effect of this connection came a few days later, when the Argentine government donated two Russian Mi- 171E Helicopters.

Beyond the differences between Milei and Democrat Joe Biden’s governments, Argentina expressed interest in joining NATO in mid-April as a way to build confidence internationally with an unmistakable alignment against China and Russia.

One of the results of the political lobby was that the Millay government tried to replace the five super-endurance aircraft it bought from France in 2017 and could not put into service because of a UK ban on selling some military parts to Argentina. .

The original plan was to return these planes to France, so that the country could send them to Ukraine in exchange for various resources and military supplies that would be transferred to Argentina. Russia’s timely intervention prevented the execution of this plan.

Almost in parallel, Javier Millay participated in the “Peace Summit” organized by the Ukrainian government in Switzerland, in which the presidents of the United States, China and Russia did not attend, and a significant number of leaders preferred. Not to endorse or endorse in any way.

Although the Milei government insists that support will only be on a “humanitarian” or “logistical” basis, on June 13 Argentina was included in Ukraine’s Security Coordination Group (GCDU), instead, cooperation will be on an active and military basis.

The GCDU (or “Ramstein Group”, after the German military base where the first meeting took place, two years earlier) was organized by the US with direct support from NATO. Today the 32-nation bloc that makes up the Atlantic Alliance is joined by another 25 governments, including Europeans and some African and Asian governments. Argentina has become the first Latin American country to join this global network of direct support to Ukraine.

Thanks to this new strategic orientation and companies like “Fabricaciones Militares”, Argentina can supply ammunition for the production of bullets and ammunition for the war in Ukraine, but also for other conflicts where NATO may intervene.

Of course, not only is Argentina interested in engaging in a distant conflict, many of the countries involved are now looking for a way to distance themselves. It also aims to break the idea, central to the entire region, that Latin America should be considered a “Zone of Peace,” as CELAC established at its second summit a decade ago.