Russia remains the world’s second largest arms exporter after the United States, according to the 2014 annual defense trade report conducted by research company IHS Inc.
“Russia had a record year – the country’s arms export in 2014 was $10 billion, a 9-percent increase compared to 2013,” the IHS report said.
Largest buyers of Russian arms in 2014 were China ($2.3 billion), India ($1.7 billion), as well as Venezuela and Vietnam ($1 billion each).
In 2014, the global defense trade rose for the sixth straight year to a record $64.4 billion.
The United States remained the top arms exporter last year, ahead of Russia, France, Britain and Germany, which rounded out the top five.
While Russia and Western countries are the main arms exporters, main arms buyers are in the Middle East and Asia. The top-five arms importers in 2014 were Saudi Arabia, India, China, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan.
