Published on: 08/16/2022 – 01:20
This Monday, August 15, Vladimir Poutin had no words strong enough to praise Russian arms to his foreign allies. The President of the Federation spoke on the first day of an international arms fair in the Moscow region. But the conflict in Ukraine so far does not seem to be an ideal showcase for the Russian defense industry.
“We are ready to offer our allies and partners the most modern types of weapons,” Vladimir Putin stressed, fully emphasizing this war in Ukraine that these weapons “virtually all have been used repeatedly under real combat conditions”.
And the Russian President assures that Moscow has many allies – listen, potential customers – in Latin America, Asia and Africa for these weapons “appreciated around the world.”
Why is Vladimir Putin defending the Russian defense industry so vigorously? Perhaps because the war in Ukraine is lasting much longer than Moscow thought, and some weapons, especially in terms of air defense, do not seem to be working as well as expected.
Not to mention the huge losses – which some analysts say could make Russia’s defense industry less attractive. An industry that could also be penalized by western sanctions; Blocking of financial circuits, but also of third-party components that are inaccessible for import.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Russia was the second largest arms exporter in the world between 2017 and 2021 with a global market share of 19%, albeit with declining sales in recent years.
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