Russia’s weapons exports increase to $15bn

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s weapons exports increased 12 % to 15.2 billion dollars in 2012. Putin said so at a meeting of the commission for military-technical cooperation with foreign states, noting that the portfolio or orders was worth 46.3 billion dollars. “It is one of the best indicators in this area; it is safe to say that Russia is one of the obvious leaders in sales of arms and special equipment; we have more than a quarter of the world market; next to us is the USA with a slight lead,” Putin said as he summed up the results of last year weapons exports, Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported. “Russia supplies special military equipment to 66 countries and has military cooperation agreements with 75 countries, i.e. there a prospect for developing these relations with a considerable number of states,” the president noted reminding that the portfolio of orders had reached 46.3 billion dollars. “It is necessary to develop these positive trends, because it is a very sizable contribution not only to the country’s budget, but also to the development of high technologies,” he underlined.