Weapons for Russian allies have flown through Irish sovereign airspace for the past 16 months.
More than six tonnes of firearms and ammunition destined for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were transported over Ireland from April 2023 to July this year.
Russia and the three former Soviet states are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation military alliance, “Russia’s answer to NATO”, according to Politico.
Kazakhstan has “become a pathway for the supply of Russia’s war machine” while Kyrgyzstan is reportedly part of a “sanctions hole" used to facilitate the export of Western technology to Russia. Russian and Tajikistani soldiers conducted joint military exercises in Tajikistan’s Khatlon region in April this year.
Rifles and ammunition for Russian allies
On 15 April 2023, a Silk Way West Airlines flight left Heuston Airport in the United States carrying 284 kilogrammes of rifles, according to records uncovered by The Ditch.
Before arriving for a short stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, the plane entered Irish airspace over county Clare and exited the state above county Wicklow.
The flight arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan later that day. Two days later the rifles were transported on another flight to their final destination, Manas Airport in Kyrgyzstan.
Months later, on 6 July, 2023, another Silk Way West Airlines flight left Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and headed for Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku.
The Azerbaijani-registered plane entered the state above county Kerry before leaving Ireland over the Saltee Islands off the Wexford coast.
This time it was carrying 207 kilogrammes of firearms for delivery to Manas Airport three days later, as well as 99 kilogrammes of rifles, which arrived in Almaty Airport, Kazakhstan on 8 July, 2023.
More recently a July 2024 flight carried almost six tonnes of ammunition through Irish airspace to Tajikistan.
The Silk Way West Airlines flight from Chicago to Baku on 25 July flew across Ireland on a journey that saw it exit the state over Portrane Beach in north county Dublin on its way to Dushanbe Airport.
The Ditch reported yesterday that Shannon Airport was used to transport munitions from Israel to the United States last November.
It is a criminal offence to transport munitions of war over Irish airspace without permission from the Minister for Transport under Irish air navigation law.
The Department of Transport has been contacted for comment.
