In 2012, Russia concluded contracts on selling weapons for the total sum of $ 15 bln. Russian weapons are still popular in the world, much to the envy of some Western weapon producers.

Today, the position of a country on the world market of weapons is evidence of the development of science and technology in this country.

From this point of view, Russia's position today is much better than it was in the 1990s, when the military industry in Russia was experiencing a crisis after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Now, Russia can again compete with the world's most important weapon-producing and weapon-selling countries," military observer of Russian newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" Victor Baranets says.

"Today, Russia is the world's second largest seller of weapons, after the US," Mr. Baranets says.

"This is a very good result, because in the 1990s, Russia was at the very bottom of the world's top 10 list of weapon sellers. Rumors that the military industry is dead in Russia turned out to be very exaggerated.

"Russia can still boast of producing many weapon items that are by no means worse, if not better, than their Western analogues. The very fact that many countries are buying our weapons is evidence that our weapons are quite good."

Russia is broadening its market of selling weapons. At present, it is selling them not only to its old customers, but also to a number of new ones.

Russian military expert Ilya Kraminik says:

"At present, Russia's military cooperation with, say, Vietnam is based on other principles than it was in the time of the Soviet Union. At that time, the Soviet Union often helped countries with Communist regimes free of charge or for a symbolic pay. Now, Russia is selling weapons to Vietnam exclusively on a commercial basis."

"Speaking about other countries, Latin America is a region where Russia has never sold weapons before," Mr. Kramnik continues.

"Now, we are actively involved this new market. Quite a few Latin American countries are now showing interest in purchasing Russian weapons, including Brazil, which itself is now rapidly developing the production of weapons."

Source: Voice of Russia