Russia exported weapons worth $4.6 bln in 2016 — Putin

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Russia has exported armaments and military hardware worth $4.6 billion from early this year to date, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

"The tasks set for 2016 in the system of Russia’s military and technical cooperation are being fulfilled," Putin told a session of the commission for military and technical cooperation.

"The export deliveries of armaments and military hardware have already reached the level of almost five billion US dollars - $4.6 billion - while the order book clearly exceeds $50 billion," Putin said.

"Domestic weapons and military hardware are proving their efficiency and reliability in very diverse conditions," the head of the Russian state said.

"They are operational in the countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Importantly, the geography of deliveries is consistently expanding and new inter-governmental agreements are signed and bilateral working groups are set up," Putin said.

The Russian president urged "to further increase the efficiency of military and technical cooperation and act in a more clear-cut and coordinated manner in this sphere."

"At the same time, it is necessary to be ready that our more active efforts will undoubtedly intensify competition," the Russian president said.

Putin also noted the rising demand for both final products and for technologies and personnel training.

"Quite recently, a graduation ceremony was held at our military educational establishments where there are quite a lot of servicemen from other countries, first of all, from the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] member countries and not only from them," the head of the Russian state said.

"This is, of course, very right that we’re continuing this work," Putin said.