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Russia to splurge on foreign arms:
Russia is to embark on a massive overseas arms shopping spree, spending up to eight billion pounds on state-of-the art foreign military hardware, it has been claimed.
The forecast, made in a report from an influential military think-tank close to the Russian defence ministry, came as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev launched what the Kremlin said was the world's quietest attack submarine.
"Most great powers heavily invest in the newest offensive and defensive systems," he said at a shipyard ceremony in northern Russia on Tuesday. "We should do the same."
The report, from the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said Russia was looking to spend up to eight billion pounds in the next five or six years on foreign military purchases.
The overseas shopping spree has been made possible after the Kremlin abandoned its traditional "buy Russian" policy with defence chiefs conceding that domestic arms manufacturers were not always able to compete with their Western rivals on quality.
The report's authors noted that Russia was already in advanced talks with France to buy up to four helicopter carriers and was also considering buying up to 3,000 state-of-the-art armoured vehicles from Italy.
Russia has already purchased a small number of pilotless surveillance drones from Israel and was likely to buy a lot more, the report added.
The report coincided with a spate of press claims suggesting that Russia was also in talks with a number of French firms to buy sophisticated military targeting equipment and combat suits for its special forces.
The news is likely to alarm Georgia against whom Russia fought a short sharp war in 2008. It will also unnerve Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia who remain wary of Russia.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/Russia+splurge+foreign+arms/3158461/story.html#ixzz0qyerWHWO
_________________________________________________________
Russia to splurge on foreign arms:
Russia is to embark on a massive overseas arms shopping spree, spending up to eight billion pounds on state-of-the art foreign military hardware, it has been claimed.
The forecast, made in a report from an influential military think-tank close to the Russian defence ministry, came as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev launched what the Kremlin said was the world's quietest attack submarine.
"Most great powers heavily invest in the newest offensive and defensive systems," he said at a shipyard ceremony in northern Russia on Tuesday. "We should do the same."
The report, from the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, said Russia was looking to spend up to eight billion pounds in the next five or six years on foreign military purchases.
The overseas shopping spree has been made possible after the Kremlin abandoned its traditional "buy Russian" policy with defence chiefs conceding that domestic arms manufacturers were not always able to compete with their Western rivals on quality.
The report's authors noted that Russia was already in advanced talks with France to buy up to four helicopter carriers and was also considering buying up to 3,000 state-of-the-art armoured vehicles from Italy.
Russia has already purchased a small number of pilotless surveillance drones from Israel and was likely to buy a lot more, the report added.
The report coincided with a spate of press claims suggesting that Russia was also in talks with a number of French firms to buy sophisticated military targeting equipment and combat suits for its special forces.
The news is likely to alarm Georgia against whom Russia fought a short sharp war in 2008. It will also unnerve Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia who remain wary of Russia.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/world/Russia+splurge+foreign+arms/3158461/story.html#ixzz0qyerWHWO
