Russia Signs 2 Billion Euro worth Contracts with Foreign Customers at ARMY-2021

Arms sales contracts worth more than two billion euro have been signed with countries such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, India, China and Myanmar at the Army-2021 event near Moscow.

Dmitry Shugaev, director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of Russia, disclosed this information in an interview with the Russian MoD’s TV channel, ZvezdaTV today.

“Today we can say that the contract documents have been signed for over two billion euro. Among the signatories are our traditional partners and closest neighbors - Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and, of course, India, China, Myanmar.”

Russian arms industry on a roll

“This is a serious figure, this has not happened before. We are on a roll. This is only the third day, it is not over yet,” said Shugaev.

He did not disclose the arms and equipment that are part of the 2 billion euro deal nor the full list of countries. Delegates from over 50 countries are attending the ARMY-2021 event.

However, Shugaev pointed out to ‘great interest’ from customers in equipment such as the T-90MS tank, the Antey-4000 air defense system, Mi-17, Mi-28NM helicopters, and small arms.

Iran, which was expected to be a major buyer of Russian military hardware following the lifting of sanctions, was surprisingly not in the list mentioned by Shugaev.

U.S. sanctions policy a failure?

The huge international arms orders at ARMY-2021 signals a failure of the American sanctions policy which is intended to starve Russian arms companies of hard currency thereby hitting their potential to develop and sell weapons

Russia has stopped billing buyers of its arms in dollars due to U.S. financial sanctions and prefers euro or national currency of the customer. The move seems to have paid dividends.

Over the last few years Russian arms companies have stopped exhibiting at major international events based in Europe and prefer Russian events such as MAKS and ARMY where they are able to provide exclusive attention to visiting dignataries and delegations.