Foreign buyer interest in Russian weapons has increased after their performance in Ukraine going by the number of international delegations visiting the just-concluded Army 2022 arms show near Moscow.
According to Dmitry Shugaev, Director of Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), “the special military operation in Ukraine has significantly increased the interest of foreign partners in Russian weapons. Many of them, basing on available materials, evaluated their effectiveness in combat use.”
Shugaev told Defensemirror.com in an e-mail interview, “they (foreign buyers) were once again convinced of the high quality, reliability, durability and maintainability of Russian military products, which also made it possible to attract the attention of new potential buyers in various regions of the world.”
Also read: Rosoboronexport Signs 2 Contracts worth ~$400M with Foreign Customers at Army 2022
U.S. Not imposing sanctions against India for S-400 buy
After first threatening and later not imposing sanctions against India for buying S-400 air defense systems reflects “weakness” on the part of Washington, Shugaev said without elaborating.
“I want to say that we consider Western sanctions against Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation as unfair competition and pressure on the sovereignty of both Russia and India,” he continued.
“I can confidently say that, despite the undisguised and gross attempts by the United States to violate the sovereign rights of independent states (by threatening sanction for buying Russian weapons), our military-technical cooperation system allows us to protect both Russian manufacturers of military products and our foreign partners.”
Related news: How HIMARS and Sanctions Are Choking Russia's Weapons Trade
Alternative to U.S. Dollar, Euro payments welcomed by Customers
Following U.S. financial sanctions, payments in the U.S. Dollar and Euro in arms export transactions have been reduced to a minimum, said Shugaev.
“Russian countermeasures against sanctions consist of a tailored approach to each of our customers, offering attractive conditions when concluding contracts, adjusting the payment forms and providing more flexible schemes, abandoning the dollar and switching to other currencies, including national ones,” the FSMTC director said.
“Many of the anti-sanction measures developed by the FSMTC of Russia are welcomed by our partners, as they are mostly in line with their national strategic interests,” he said.
Defensemirror has learnt that moving away from hard currency is largely welcomed by foreign buyers. A representative of a Middle Eastern country told this correspondent at the Army 2022 show, "earlier Russia demanded payment in dollars. But now they are happy to take our currency at the prevailing dollar rate. This is good for us."
Military delegations from 85 countries visit Army 2022 Forum
According to information released by Army 2022 organizers, the Forum was attended by official military delegations from 85 foreign countries, including 18 high-level ones. The total number of representatives of foreign military departments was 700 people.
Some 160 bilateral meetings were held with foreign partners, including: 17 with the Russian Ministry of Defence, 34 with FSMTC of Russia and 109 with Rosoboronexport.