Eastern Europe Is Pumping Arms Into The Middle East

An investigation has found that countries in Eastern Europe have discreetly approved the sale of weapons worth over €1 billion to countries in the Middle East. Those countries are in turn known to ship weapons to war-ravaged Syria and Yemen. The hardware includes shells, anti-tank missiles, machine guns and thousands of Kalashnikov-style assault rifles.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) conducted the investigation, finding evidence pointing towards the systematic diversion of weapons to armed groups accused of committing serious human rights violations. The following infographic illustrates the scale of Eastern Europe's booming arms trade. Read the entire investigative report here.