Russian Arms Exports To Grow By Up To $800 Mln In 2009

From RIA Novosti:

MOSCOW, May 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian arms exports are expected to increase by $700-$800 mln in 2009 despite the global credit crunch, state arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Wednesday.

"Rosoboronexport sells an additional $700-800 million [worth of weaponry] every year. Despite the crisis, 2009 will be no exception," company official Valery Varlamov said.

The arms export monopoly sold $6.75 billion worth of arms in 2008, and earlier said its defense order portfolio was worth $27 billion.

"We could have signed deals worth a total of $50 billion, but we did not do this, and settled for $27 billion. We believe this figure is realistic," the official said.

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My Comment: The key sentence is the following .... "We could have signed deals worth a total of $50 billion".