MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti) — Russia has secured $7.7 billion in arms contracts with foreign customers since the beginning of 2014, the country's President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
"As a result, the foreign orders portfolio shows a steady trend at around $50 billion," Putin said at a meeting on Russia's military-technical cooperation.
In July, Vladimir Putin said that Russian arms exports in the first half of 2014 reached $5.6 billion.
In September, a presidential aide on military-technical cooperation, Vladimir Kozhin stressed that Western sanctions have not affected Russia’s arms exports and could never lead to the collapse of the country’s defense industry.
The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, a claim Moscow has repeatedly denied. Several defense companies, including Oboronprom, United Aircraft Corporation and Uralvagonzavod, were restricted from seeking finance capital on European financial markets.
The European Union also banned sales of dual use equipment to Russian companies partly or wholly involved in the design and production of military and military machine-building equipment.
Russia, the world's second arms exporter after the United States, has sold $9.8 billion in arms and military equipment abroad since the beginning of 2014, according to a recent report by the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.
