With the Russian leader’s forces beaten out of Ukraine’s two largest cities and making slow, costly progress in the country’s east, the war so far has not proved a convincing showcase for Russia’s arms industry. But the Kremlin leader, speaking at an arms show outside Moscow, insisted Russian weapons were years ahead of the competition. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Russia cherishes its strong ties with Latin America, Asia and Africa, “and is ready to offer its partners and allies the most modern types of weapons – from small arms to armored vehicles and artillery, fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles vehicles,” he said. “Almost all have been used more than once in actual combat operations.” He said that Russia could offer new models and systems – “we are talking about high-precision weapons and robotics, about combat systems based on new physical principles. “Many of them are years, or perhaps even decades, ahead of their foreign counterparts and in terms of tactical and technical characteristics they significantly surpass them.” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attend the Army-2022 international military-technical forum at the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center in Moscow Region, Russia, August 15, 2022. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS read more Western military analysts have suggested that the poor performance of Russian troops and weapons in Ukraine could make Moscow’s arms exports less attractive to potential buyers such as India, which have relied heavily on its technology in the past. Ukraine has made effective use of US-supplied weapons, especially the advanced HIMARS missile systems, and Russia has been dealt a series of major blows, including the destruction of an air base in the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula last week. However, Putin said that Russia’s forces and their proxies in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine were fulfilling all their duties. “Step by step they are liberating the land of Donbas,” he said. The speech was part of a pattern of statements since the Feb. 24 invasion in which Putin and Sergei Lavrov, his foreign minister, talked about the possibility of Russia working with allies such as China, India, Iran and others to build of a new international order no longer dominated by the United States. “I want to emphasize that Russia is in favor of broader comprehensive development military-technical cooperation. Today, in conditions of trust in the emerging multipolar world, this is especially important,” Putin said. “We highly appreciate the fact that our country has many like-minded allies and partners on different continents. These are the states that do not bow to the so-called ruler, their leaders show a real masculine character and do not bend.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Mark Trevelyan. Edited by Andrew Osborn Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Mark Trevelyan Thomson Reuters Lead writer for Russia and the CIS. He has worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from 40+ countries, with posts in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Covered the breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and (rusty) German and Polish.
