ABU DHABI, February 22. /TASS/. The first two days of the Russian delegation’s work at the IDEX 2023 international arms show and foreign interest in Russia’s military output evidence that Russia continues military-technical cooperation with many countries despite attempts to isolate it, a Russian military expert told TASS on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi defense exhibition on Wednesday.
Russia is a more reliable partner in military-technical cooperation than Western rivals are, Alexander Mikhailov, head of the Military-Political Analysis Bureau, told TASS.
"In my opinion, the main achievement of our delegation’s work is that it has demonstrated that Russia has not been isolated by the international community and that Russia continues military-technical cooperation with tens of countries and the interest in the Russian exposition is enormous," he pointed out.
"Today we have seen representatives from practically all the continents. People come, display interest, hold consultations and take booklets. These are representatives of defense circles from various states, not only from those that are our traditional partners in military-technical cooperation," he said.
Today Russia is becoming "an increasingly decent partner on the world arms market," offering to buy military products at considerably lower prices compared to Western rivals, the expert explained.
In particular, a Russian-made Su-30 fighter jet can be offered at $40-45 million whereas foreign combat aircraft of this generation cost $80-90 million and more, he said.
"The T-90 tank in its export configuration is sold at $3.5-4 million whereas the price tag of the Western armor begins from $7-8 million," he added.
"Importantly, Moscow does not demand geopolitical obedience and does not impose its geopolitical patronage as is done by Washington in the sphere of military-technical cooperation. Russia never resorts to the practice of ‘getting extra money’ for personnel training, equipment repair and maintenance, once a contract is concluded as is done by the US to make customers dependent on its military-industrial complex," the expert said.
Russia also offers expanded competences in military-technical cooperation, including the relocation of armaments production to its partners’ territory and the construction of repair centers on their soil to avoid moving military hardware back to Russia for upgrade, he said.
The IDEX 2023 international arms show is running in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on February 20-24. Russia’s integrated display stand is accommodated in a separate pavilion where leading Russian defense manufacturers feature over 200 full-scale types of weaponry, military hardware, munitions and combat gear.