Beijing may once again turn to Russian arms

China may once again turn to purchasing Russian-built weapon systems like it did in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to Ilya Kramnik, a military analyst from the Moscow-based Voice of Russia.

In his Mar. 5 article, Kramnik said that Rosoboronexport — the state intermediary agency for Russia's exports/imports of defense-related and dual use products, technologies and services — had earned US$13.2 billion last year from providing weapon systems to developing nations.

By doing this, Russia became the second largest weapon exporter last year, coming behind the United States which made US$23. 6 billion. France came in third, but made only US$6.9 billion.

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