Despite five years of declining overseas sales, Russia remains the world’s second-largest arms exporter after the United States, according to the latest data on international arms transfers compiled by the International Research Institute Stockholm Peace Conference (SIPRI), an independent research institute that tracks global military spending. As Caspian News writes, according to the report released on Monday, the top five arms exporters – the United States, Russia, France, Germany and China – together accounted for 76% of total global export volume. weapons over the past five years.
The report details the ups and downs in the volume of international major arms transfers during these years. Although Russia’s arms exports, which accounted for 20% of all major arms exports in 2016-2020, have fallen by 22%, international transfers of major arms have remained at the same level compared to the 2011-2015 period, mainly due to increased transfers from three of the top five arms exporters, namely the United States, France and Germany.
Research explains that most, around 90%, of the decline in Russia’s arms exports is attributable to a 53% drop in its arms exports to India, one of the largest and most former buyers of Russian defense equipment.
“Russia significantly increased its arms transfers to China, Algeria and Egypt between 2011-15 and 2016-20, but this did not make up for the sharp drop in its arms exports to the India, ”said Alexandra Quinoa, researcher in SIPRI’s Arms and Military Expenditure Program.
With military cooperation dating back to the Soviet era, the Soviet Union was India’s main supplier during the Cold War, and today most of its weaponry is Russian, or Soviet-made. Russian defense supplies to India are estimated to have amounted to more than $ 65 billion since 1960. About 70% of the Indian Air Force’s equipment and 80% of its naval fleet are Russian-made.
At the same time, Moscow has managed to strengthen its ties with Africa and become the continent’s largest arms supplier. Russia accounts for 30% of total arms imports from sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2016-2020, according to the SIPRI report.
In 2017, Washington passed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which provides for sanctions for any country engaged in what the US Treasury Department calls a “significant transaction” with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors. .
“Although Russia has recently signed new large arms contracts with several states and its exports are likely to increase gradually again in the years to come, it faces strong competition from the United States in most regions. Added Mr. Quinoa.
According to the Swedish think tank, the United States remains the world’s largest arms exporter. Between 2016 and 2020, the United States accounted for 37% of the trade in major conventional arms, showing a 5% increase over the previous five-year period.
While the main customers of the United States were Saudi Arabia, Australia and the United Arab Emirates during this period, the main customers of Russia included India, China and Algeria.
Russia’s military power was ranked 2 out of 140 countries according to the Global Firepower ranking for 2021, making it the second military power in the world and the strongest in the Caspian region.
Vestnik Kavkaza, 21 mars 2021
Tags: Russia, arms, armament, Algeria, Egypt, SIPRI,
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