Czech Republic is looking for shells for Ukraine. Russia’s allies are among suppliers - Wall Street Journal
The Czech Republic is negotiating with various countries to supply ammunition to Ukraine, including Russia’s allies.
According to Censor.NET, this is stated in the material of The Wall Street Journal.
Thus, the Czech Republic has purchased about 800,000 artillery shells from various suppliers around the world and has identified another 700,000 that it can order if additional funding is available.
According to Czech officials, they have started travelling the world and negotiating the purchase of shells from existing stocks and export licences with munitions producing countries.
The article notes that "the Soviet past helped", as the Czech Republic inherited a large defence sector with clients around the world and good relations with many countries in the Global South, supported by the USSR and its satellites in Eastern Europe, which have large stockpiles of Soviet weapons and the capacity to produce them.
"Officials have been tight-lipped about where the shells are coming from, but say some Russian allies are among the suppliers," the authors note.
At the same time, such requests from the United States and Western European countries to potential suppliers in Africa, Asia and Latin America were rejected. The agreements stipulate that supplies will be made through the Czech Republic or third countries to conceal the direct link between the countries of origin and Ukraine, and to avoid pressure from Russia on the supplier.
