Russia thrives on arms sale

MOSCOW: Missiles to Syria and Iran, warplanes to Venezuela and Myanmar, helicopters to Sudan — Russia goes its own way when it comes to selling arms, seemingly immune to ethical debates that affect the industry elsewhere. While European Union members argue over whether to lift a weapons ban against China, almost half of Russia’s $6 billion arms sales last year went to Beijing.

As the US struggles to persuade Congress to approve a US-India nuclear deal that some lawmakers fear could spark an arms race, Moscow is completing two atomic plants for New Delhi. Russia’s arms industry is one of the few national manufacturers that can compete with Western firms on equal terms, and it is  both, a source of prestige and key to Moscow’s drive to gain new markets for its exports. But this pragmatism has drawn international criticism, and some experts say the apparent health of Russia’s arms exports actually conceals an industry in decline, still making money from the leftovers of the Soviet military past.

Russia earns $5 billion a year from the weapons trade — a figure dwarfed by its other exports. Its main clients are India and China, but it deals with Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Palestine — buyers Western countries shy from dealing with.