<tit>
CONTROL FOR LIGHT WEAPONS<aut>Dmitry Litovkin
<src>Izvestia (Moscow issue), February 7, 2006, p. 5
<sum>Meeting of the UN Committee for Light Weapons is a major disappointment.</sum>
<cov>RESULTS OF THE MEETING OF THE UN COMMITTEE FOR LIGHT WEAPONS DISAPPOINTS THE RUSSIAN DELEGATION
Abatement of the level of violence in the world was the major objective of the UN Committee for Light Weapons that ended in New York the other day. The committee discussed principles of the international community's policy with regard to light weapons. Russia is anything but a disinterested observer.
"Results of the forum disappointed practically everyone from participants to observers," Vladimir Kozyulin said. Professor of the Academy of Military Sciences representing Russian non-government organization at the meeting, he continued, "What delegates came up with was not an ideal document by a long shot, and it was this document that was offered to the UN conference on light weapons that will take place in June or July 2006. The international community is expecting some serious decisions from this conference. It is already clear however, that whatever decisions may be made will certainly encounter resistance from lobbyists - the United States, Iran, Israel, and the Arab State League."
The 2001 UN program of prevention of illegal deals in light weapons includes a broad range of obligations countries all over the world pledged to fulfill before 2006.
"Russia looks all right among them. A great deal has been done in our country to restore order in registration, storage, utilization, and so on of light weapons. By the way, this term itself applies to a fairly broad range of weapons from bullets to portable SAM launchers," Kozyulin said. "Our weapons export control system is so demanding in fact that we are ready to share it with other arms export leaders.... In the meantime, Russia's positions on certain aspects of the matter were criticized. Sergei Petlyakov, the head of the Russian delegation, said in his statement that the UN program was first and foremost a means of preventing illegal arms deals. In the meantime, many countries insist that some forms of international control over legal export of light weapons is a priority."
As far as Russia is concerned nowadays, first the international community has to solve the problem of illegal deals and handle establishment of standards for official ones afterwards. Independent experts say that illegal arms deals amount to $1-2 billion in a time of peace and up to $5 billion whenever there is a serious armed conflict under way. In the meantime, light weapons account for a sizeable part of the illegal market of arms.
Official volume of light weapons export from Russia amounts to $100-150 million while the American one is estimated at $1.2 billion. The global market is estimated at $3 billion in all, and Russia is the 4th to 6th largest exporter of light weapons.
RVR
