Slovakia refuses responsibility for exported weapons ending up in Syria

Slovakia isn't responsible when weapons exported from the country end up in war-torn Syria, Slovak news agency TASR reported on Saturday citing Slovak Defence Minister Peter Gajdos.

Public broadcaster Slovak Radio and Television in its Aug. 25 evening news program reported that last year Slovakia exported to Saudi Arabia 40,000 assault rifles, more than 1,000 mortars, 14 rocket launchers, almost 500 heavy machine guns and more than 1,500 RPGs.

The list of weapons was published by the United Nations, despite the fact that Slovakia asked to be exempted from annual reports on arms exports.

According to experts, the weapons ended up in war-torn Syria, and so Slovakia has significantly contributed to the conflict that has pushed millions of people out of that country.

"Regarding the issue of selling arms, as the prime minister Robert Fico said before, this is business carried out not only by Slovakia but also by the rest of the world," stressed Gajdos.

He noted that regarding the arms trade, strict rules are applied, and these rules are also binding for the end user. "End users are responsible for how they use or, excuse me for the expression, misuse these weapons," said Gajdos.

British daily The Guardian and several news agencies in July reported that a number of central and eastern European countries have approved arms deals worth more than a billion euros within the past four years to countries in the Middle East that were known to be supplying weapons to Syria. Slovakia was among the countries in question, wrote the British daily. Enditem