The UK launched an investigation into allegations that its arms brokers supplied weapons to blacklisted countries. Oliver Sprague from Amnesty International says the UK's weapons trading laws are alarmingly weak.
“This is extremely worrying because there are supposed to be new strong rules and laws on the activities of UK arms dealers and brokers operating overseas in countries like Ukraine,” said Sprague, who is in charge of military and police research for the human right’s group. “If they wish to purchase weapons from countries like Ukraine, they are supposed to have an export license – a former permission if you like – from the UK government to do that. What is quite worrying is that these dealers were not known to the UK government.”