“The Russian Federation does not look cool today and is losing its share in the arms market” - Russian expert
Russia continues to lose share in the global arms market
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, Kommersant writes, citing the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The document contains data for two five-year periods: 2013–2017 and 2018–2022.
“In the second five-year plan, Russia remains one of the largest arms exporters, but continues to lose market share to competitors. Compared to 2013–2017, its share for the period from 2018 to 2022 decreased by 6% - from 22% to 16%. This can be called a trend: compared to 2008–2012, Russia’s share in the global arms market in 2013–2017 also decreased - by 4%. Total - minus 10% of the market over ten years,” the article notes.
At the same time, the United States remains the leader in arms sales, having managed to improve its performance. According to SIPRI estimates, American arms exports increased by 14% over the past five-year period compared to the previous one, and today 40% of global arms exports come from the United States.
Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Russian Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies and publisher of the Arms Export magazine, admits that the Russian share in the global arms trade market is indeed falling.
“And both relative and absolute,” the expert added.
According to him, the main beneficiaries of the heating up of the arms market against the backdrop of the conflict around Ukraine are the Americans, and to a lesser extent, the Europeans.
“And the so-called new suppliers - Turkey and South Korea - have heated up very much, especially in percentage terms,” says the analyst.
He agrees with two reasons given by SIPRI why Russia’s share in the arms market is falling: Russia’s own needs, which have sharply increased against the backdrop of the operation in Ukraine, and unprecedented US sanctions pressure on potential buyers of Russian weapons. But at the same time, he also cites a third reason – Russia’s image losses.
“Unlike the situation with Georgia in 2008 or Syria in 2015, now Russia looks, if not weak, then certainly not cool, which negatively affects the preferences of buyers in a number of countries,” Pukhov concluded.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.