Almost a decade after the collapse of communism, Russia has decided to resurrect the Soviet-style doctrine of supplying arms and military-technical know-how to “allies” at bargain-basement prices.
The allies in question are the countries participating with Russia in the 1992 Collective Security Treaty, a defense alliance involving the countries of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Last year, these countries agreed to provide reduced-rate arms to a multilateral force intended to defend the region.
Vitaly Strugovets, assistant to the chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament says the Duma is preparing to examine a bill ratifying the military-technical cooperation agreement. But few experts on the Russian military expect approval of the bill will be delayed.
The bill was introduced by the government and has already been received the blessing of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The agreement is still in the process of ratification,” says Secretary General of the Collective Security Council Valery Nikolayenko. “But in June, President Putin approved a military-technical cooperation policy doctrine with the countries in the Collective Security Treaty that really opens the doors to cooperation under favorable conditions.”
Originally, plans called for a single doctrine, but at the May 2001 Collective Security Treaty summit in Yerevan, Putin announced that conditions for military-technical cooperation with participant countries would differ from those for other countries.
However, in June, Putin approved two policy doctrines. The first concerns military-technical cooperation with foreign countries until 2010. The second doctrine, meanwhile, specifically concerns the Collective Security Treaty participants.
“Our allies are looking for a clear and consistent policy on military-technical cooperation issues,” the Russian president said after signing the doctrine.
Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Dmitriyev explains that the greatest value in joining the Collective Security Treaty is that members will pay less for Russian arms than other countries. However, Dmitriyev stresses that these rock-bottom prices “will not be so low as to mean losses for Russia.”After discussions on the new doctrine in the Kremlin on June 9, Putin said that this kind of favorable cooperation with allies is needed because of “real changes in the balance of military and political force.” Putin said that in this situation for Russia, as for any other country, military-technical cooperation was an “effective instrument with which to have an influence on these processes.”
“The fact that Russia is to resume arms sales under favorable terms for its allies doesn’t signal a return to Soviet times,” says President of the Institute for the Development of Social Partnership Vladimir Yatsenko, a specialist on geopolitical issues.
“It’s more likely that Russia needs to do this in an attempt to compete with the United States and NATO on the arms markets in the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States],” he adds. “So far, Russia has been losing ground. The Georgian Army is going over to NATO standards. The United States, Turkey and Germany and other European countries are selling arms under favorable terms to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.” Yatsenko points out that the new cooperation exists only on paper at the moment. The first step toward implementing the Yerevan summit decisions will come this month, with the organization of a rapid-reaction force set up by Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. This will be the first force to receive arms and equipment under the new terms.
In reality, military-technical cooperation between Russia and the CIS countries is nowhere near as flourishing as Russia would like it to be. The volumes of arms sales are not high and not even all the Collective Security Treaty members purchase arms from Russia.
Belarus accounts for more than 50 percent of Russian arms sales to CIS countries.
According to the Russian Conventional Weapons Agency (RAV), the next-biggest buyers are Ukraine (27 percent) and Uzbekistan (23 percent). For the most part, Belarus and Ukraine buy spare parts for armored vehicles and missile technology, tank ammunition, measuring devices and optical instruments. Uzbekistan buys mostly firearms and ammunition.
Russian arms exports to CIS countries have more than doubled since 1999. RAV said exports to CIS countries accounted for 4 percent of total conventional weapons exports, and were worth $430 million in 2000.
But according to figures given by Putin, total military-technical contracts for 2000 amounted to $3.68 billion. If Putin’s statistics are accurate, this means Russia’s main arms-export partners are still non-CIS countries.
