President Vladimir Putin on Monday promoted Russian weapons to his foreign allies, saying they had all been battlefield tested.
“We are ready to offer allies and partners the most modern types of weapons – from small arms, armored vehicles and artillery to fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles,” Putin said in a televised address at the opening of a military forum outside Moscow.
He said Russian weapons are valued by military officials for their “reliability, quality and most importantly – their high efficiency.”
“Almost all have been used more than once in real combat operations,” he added.
Putin also praised Russia’s “many” allies as the country has found itself increasingly isolated since the military intervention in neighboring Ukraine began.
Washington and Brussels have hit Moscow with a barrage of crippling sanctions, urging Putin to seek new markets and strengthen ties with nations in Africa and Asia.
“We appreciate very much that our country has many allies, partners and like-minded people on different continents. These are states that do not bow to the so-called hegemon,” Putin said.
He added that Russia has “historically strong, friendly and genuinely trusting relations” with countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Russia is the second largest arms exporter in the world after the US, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SPIRI), but its export figures have steadily declined in recent years.
However, the head of state arms conglomerate Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, said on Monday that military actions in Ukraine had not affected arms exports.
“This year we have already signed contracts with foreign customers worth over a trillion rubles ($16 billion). This number exceeds some annual figures of the last 10 years,” Chemezov said at the forum, as quoted by Russian news agencies.
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