DISINFO: France in a state of war fueled by weapons sent to Ukraine
SUMMARY
France is indeed in a state of war. The question is whether it is a civil war or a war involving "foreign enclaves" within France.
Weapons supplied to Ukraine have already appeared on the European black market. This concerns AR-15s, modern weapons and those already used by the Ukrainian army, Kalashnikovs as well as Javelin or Stinger missiles.
Will the riots go even further, beyond the looting and burning of cars to take the form of the civil war as often evoked, using weapons sent to Ukraine by NATO? Or, is France facing a war with foreign enclaves on its soil?
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin narrative exaggerating the July 2023 riots in France by portraying them as a symbol of the West's collapse and aiming to discredit Western support and deliveries of weapons to Ukraine.
Although there are statements about the potential risk that some small arms may be diverted by traffickers to European countries, the claim that these weapons were used by protesters in France against police forces during the July 2023 riots is unsubstantiated. It has been refuted by the French authorities.
There is no evidence which would suggest a widespread black-market trade of Western weaponry. Russian and pro-Russian media outlets and officials have repeatedly stated that this is happening – and also without any evidence. Multiple journalists have investigated these claims but they have not found any large scale “operations” of this kind.
Concerns about diversion of NATO members deliveries to Ukraine could be stolen and resold on the black market were real. Consequently monitoring programs were initiated. However, concerns remain that captured weapons might be resold to criminal groups by Russia in order to discredit Ukraine.
Finally, observation proves that the black market is mainly fed by Soviet stocks rather than NATO's and from former Yugoslavia rather than Ukraine.
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