Rio de Janeiro
Russia, the world’s secondlargest arms dealer before the start of the Ukraine war, disappeared from the most traditional military fair in Latin America, the LAAD, which ended on Friday (14) in Riocentro, west of the capital Rio de Janeiro.
The reason was, of all things, the conflict that Vladimir Putin started in February last year, but the circumstances of the absence vary depending on the version given the usual opacity in the military environment: Nobody has confirmed what exactly happened.
Russia has always been a star at LAAD, which reached its 13th edition this year with 364 exhibitors from 44 countries. The country has traditionally been represented by Rosoboronexport, the stateowned company that promotes arms sales.
Until 2017, the Russian stand was always crowded, both by businessmen and the general public eager for photos of models of powerful Sukhoi fighters. In 2019, the deepening crisis between the US and Venezuela, Moscow’s main partner in Latin America, led to a more discreet presence.
Last week in Russia’s Riocentro there was only a tiny empty booth assigned to one United Industrial Publisher, a publisher known in military circles in Moscow for producing substandard publications on behalf of corporations.
No one came, and the place became a meeting place for fair workers. “They said we could rest here,” said a Riocentro official, who identified himself as José. He and other colleagues took turns in the bar, which featured chairs and a small table with a bottle of CocaCola on it.
There was a second, more stealthy Russian presence: an entourage of five members of Rosoboronexport and diplomats. They didn’t want to talk Sheetand circulated through some stalls.
According to one person with access to the group, they complained that the organization had vetoed the Russian presence so as not to offend the major Western exhibitors present. Sweden, which is seeking to join Nato (the western military alliance) because of the war, had conceded the muchloved stand of the maker of the fighter jet sold to Brazil, to Gripen, Saab, as well as other firms, and an institutional point in the country.
LAAD declined to comment on the case. According to people close to the organization of the fair, she did not invite the Russians, but according to Brasilia’s guidelines. These suggest a veto that doesn’t fit the proRussia policy of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who said again that Ukraine was also to blame for the war this Sunday (16) and Putin’s Chancellor Sergey Lavrov this week receives.
Itamaraty and the Defense Department say they are not aware of such a veto. A more plausible explanation comes from private Russian government officials in Moscow. According to them, the invitation did not come, but Rosoboronexport had already decided not to participate in LAAD in order to avoid political unrest.
The export promoter preferred to focus on the Sitdef military fair, which will be held in Peru at the end of May. The choice is logical: the Andean country is an old buyer of Russian weapons and even operates MiG29 fighters, which now need to be replaced. It’s a more comfortable environment, so to speak, even if Western companies are exhibiting.
The Russian military presence in Brazil is limited. The country has retired a fleet of Mi35 attack helicopters it had bought over the past decade and now only operates IglaS manportable surfacetoair missile launchers. Over the years, Moscow has tried to increase this trade, for example by offering Sukhoi35 fighters and Pantsir antiaircraft systems, without success.
Geopolitical conditions were reflected in other aspects of LAAD, as demonstrated by the opening of new opportunities for Brazil’s Embraer in NATO. Turkey, which has always kept a low profile at the event, came out strong with a large pavilion featuring 26 companies selling everything from their famous drones to camouflage fabrics for uniforms.
These fairs are not intended to close deals, but to stimulate conversations. Another country that attracted attention was India with a large booth. This indirectly brought Russia’s presence in the form of the RussoIndian Brahmos missile, shown in a mockup with one of its launch vectors, the Sukhoi30MKI fighter a Moscow model manufactured under license from New Delhi.
There was other news. The United Arab Emirates, which has never held a prominent position at the show, unveiled a pavilion from its Edge Group, a conglomerate of 25 defense contractors that has now arrived in Brazil. The group appointed Marcos Degaut, former defense products minister in Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) government, as its local director.
The conglomerate is negotiating partnerships with several Brazilian companies after signing letters of intent for new projects with names like Condor, one of the world’s leading suppliers of nonlethal weapons, and aerospace company Akaer. It also formed a partnership to study the development of missiles for the Navy.
“Forming strategic alliances with global players is a fundamental pillar of Edge’s strategy,” said Group CEO Mansour Almulla. Not coincidentally, Lula made a brief stopover in the United Arab Emirates on his way back from China, continuing the approach spearheaded by Bolsonaro.
Edge’s new Brazilian director, Degaut, has been a constant interlocutor for the Emiratis and the group. He was even appointed ambassador to the Emirates by Bolsonaro, but the Senate blocked his path and he eventually withdrew from the candidacy. He denied there was any conflict of interest in his new post, not least because he was legally quarantined after leaving government in August.
As in previous years, the presence of the largest arms dealer in the world, the USA, was discreet. They had small stands, but they were well attended by officials from the three armed forces and military personnel from other nations present no fewer than 190 delegations attended the fair.
On the other hand, geopolitical rival China, the world’s fourth largest arms exporter, had a large and conspicuous stateowned Norinco stand, in inverse proportion to its representatives’ willingness to speak to the press.