Detox. No, France does not deliver cluster munitions to Ukraine

Is France delivering cluster munitions to Ukraine, in violation of its international commitments? This is claimed by several Russian sources, including the Telegram channel Rybar, followed by more than 500,000 people.

In a message posted on June 10, their authors explain that after ” having searched a Ukrainian document about the French CAESAR howitzers, [ils ont] found something extremely interesting: the use of the 155 mm OGR F1 shell “. But this type of weapon, explains Rybar, ” involves a mid-air breakup of the main warhead, with the dispersal of dozens of smaller submunitions […]. Because of the very high risk of hitting civilians, these shells were banned by the Oslo Convention signed by 46 States, including France, in 2010 “. Since then, many pro-Kremlin relays have taken up this information, from the Donbass Insider site to Russian state television 1tv.

The document, which would come from a hacking of Ukrainian files, in no way proves that France delivered such weapons. According to Vincent Tourret, researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research: ” These pages look more like a simple equipment catalog than anything else “.

Asked by Désintox, Neil Gibson, an armament analyst, is categorical: it is not a question of cluster munitions … but of traditional artillery shells. The Quai d’Orsay, for its part, affirms that ” in accordance with the Oslo convention, France no longer has cluster munitions. It fulfilled its obligations and in 2016 completed the destruction of all these weapons, i.e. 13,000 shells “.

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