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Arms exporter confident terrorists won't get Russians arms supplied to Iraq, Syria — CEO

Russian state arms exporter has supplied arms worth more than $115 billion to 116 countries over the last 15 years

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport is supplying armaments to Syria  and these supplies are no secret because they are legitimate, Rosoboronexport CEO Anatoly Isaikin said Tuesday.

"I believe much has been said about Syria in recent months that the supplies to Syria are legitimate. This is not a secret as the armaments were and are coming to Syria and are intended to fight terrorists. There are no breaches of international treaties," he said.

Accoding to Isaikin Russia’s arms supplies to Iraq and Syria won’t fall into the terrorists’ hands.

"We’re supplying arms to Iraq only to the central government and the contracts naturally stipulate a ban on the transfer of Russian arms to other hands. We are confident that the Iraqi government firmly abides by this rule and the Syrian government also observes it," the Rosoboronexport head said at a briefing for journalists.

Russia's arms export won't be affected by situation in Ukraine

The situation in Ukraine will by no means affect the amount of weapons Russia provides to foreign customers, Rosoboronexport CEO Anatoly Isaikin has said.

"As far as Ukraine is concerned, it goes without saying that total disruption of cooperation with that country’s manufacturers could not but influence export somewhat, but the amount of hardware being exported has not been affected," he said.

According to the official Russia will carry through its armaments export plan in 2015 despite sanctions.

"The most important thing is that Rosoboronexport is not lowering its target indicators amid conditions of unfair competition from Western countries. We expect this plan mapped out for 2015 to be carried out in full," Isaikin told a briefing for journalists.

The CEO also noted that Rosoboronexport has supplied arms worth more than $115 billion to 116 countries over the last 15 years.

The export portfolio of orders for today is worth $45 billion," Isaykin told journalists at a briefing.

According to Isaykin, Rosoboronexport supplied $12.9 billion worth of arms in 2012, and $13.2 billion - in 2013 and 2014. Isaykin added that the share of aviation stands at 41% from all exported products, equipment for ground forces - 27%, air defense - 15%, fleet - 15%.

Rosoboronexport accepts payments from some countries in their currencies

The official also said Rosoboronexport already accepts payments from some countries in their national currencies.

"The previous payment rules implied the use of the dollar or the euro. Now we have switched to settlements in national currencies with some partners. Incidentally, this procedure already works under some contracts," Isaikin told a news briefing on Tuesday.

"Over the four years we have been under US sanctions we have increased export 50%. The current sanctions follow the same pattern. Naturally we feel some problems, but settlements under our contracts are in progress. We are more flexible in our relations with partners," he said.