US media: The reason behind the US shortening the approval process for private arms sales to Ukraine is...

　　China News Service, October 7th. According to the "New York Times" local time report on the 6th, since the situation in Russia and Ukraine deteriorated in February this year, the Biden administration has quietly accelerated the pace of private arms sales to Ukraine, which will be a weeks-long approval process. down to a few hours.

Data map: Howitzers provided by the United States to the Ukrainian army.

　　In the first four months of this year alone, the U.S. State Department authorized more than $300 million worth of private deals with Ukraine, compared with less than $15 million for all of fiscal 2021, according to reports.

　　Compared to the more than $17.5 billion in military aid the White House has provided Ukraine with machine guns, anti-tank missiles and other weapons, these private arms sales are subject to less oversight, with sellers, buyers and weapons kept out of the public eye, the report noted. .

　　Contract documents and records obtained by The New York Times show that such transactions can be conducted through multiple layers of intermediaries, as well as transshipments across several countries.

It exists in a legal grey area and can circumvent other countries' arms export rules.

　　In addition, it is reported that the United States has also accelerated the registration process for new arms dealers.

"Generally, the process takes 60 days. We got approval within seven days," wrote a private arms dealer in a letter to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

　　The New York Times noted that the Biden administration has encouraged private arms deals for several reasons: After months of delivering weapons to Ukraine, it helps reduce the consumption of the government’s arsenal, and private sellers can provide weapons that the government cannot.

　　However, some researchers point out that many risks are magnified in private arms transactions, and these processes of using forged documents to establish middlemen, trade routes and proxies can have lingering effects.

This could lead to Ukraine becoming the center of the black market arms trade.