Russian arms makers’ sales soared 20 percent in 2013, bucking a slowdown in other countries’ industries, largely thanks to a Kremlin push to modernize its military, the SIPRI think tank said on Monday.
Russia’s figures were strong enough to slow a three-year decline in global arms sales caused mainly by Washington’s withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic crisis in Europe, SIPRI researcher Siemon Wezeman said. “The remarkable increases in Russian companies’ arms sales in both 2012 and 2013 are in large part due to uninterrupted investments in military procurement by the Russian Government during the 2000’s,” Wezeman added.
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Source: Voice of America
