ZHUKOVSKY, August 13. /ITAR-TASS/. European sanctions have caused no decline in Russia’s import of armaments and military equipment from Europe, because there have been no purchases in large amounts, Rosoboronexport’s Deputy CEO Igor Sevastyanov said on Thursday.
As an example of unsuccessful attempts at cooperation he mentioned the Rys (Lynx) light multirole armored vehicle, developed by Italy’s Iveco. Last year it was announced that Russian military would not prolong the contract for importing the LMVs to opt for domestic products. The results of testing the wheeled tank Centauro in Russia were another setback for Italy. The Russian Defense Ministry has decided against importing this model and returned the test samples to the Italian manufacturer.
Kalashnikov Consortium and Russian Weapon Company have suspended, not terminated, their contract for firearms supplies to the United States, Sevastyanov stressed. "The contract has not been juridically terminated," he said. He said no license for sports and hunting weapons had been issued to US companies.
Russia is going to launch joint arms manufacturing projects with the United Arab Emirates, Sevastyanov said. “There is an idea of cooperating with the UAE in arms manufacturing. The parties are working on the project already,” he said.
Earlier, Isaikin told ITAR-TASS in an interview that at the Oboronexpo-2014 exhibition, which opened in Zhukovsky near Moscow, on Wednesday, the company would hold talks on cooperation with the holding company Tawazun - the United Arab Emirates’ chief arms manufacturer.
The markets where Russia sells its armaments and other military hardware have remained unchanged despite the introduction of sanctions, Sevastyanov noted. “We remain oriented towards our traditional markets,” he said.
