Russia ranked second biggest arms seller after USA in 2006

The United States retained its lead in the value of actual arms deliveries in 2006, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.

The report says that the United States signed $16.9 billion worth of arms contracts last year, or 41.9 percent of the global arms market, Interfax reports. Russia ranked second behind the U.S. with $8.7 billion in deliveries, or 21.6 percent of the market. With $3.1 billion worth in deliveries, Britain is No 3 on the list of world’s top arms sellers.

“Compared with the United States, Russia has no such a large number of usual clients for its arms sales. However, Russia’s recent success in signing new arms agreements indicates that Russia is likely to remain one of the top players when it comes to the value of all arms transfer agreements to developing nations at least in the short run,” says the CRC report.

Taking into account that China and India are the major exporters of Russian-made arms and equipment, authors of the report stress the point that Russia “has also achieved a certain success” in signing new contracts for the supply of its arms to other parts of the world.

“The Russian Federation is still aimed at finding more opportunities for selling its arms to countries in North Africa, in the Middle East and South East Asia,” the report says.

The United States ranked first in the value of actual arms deliveries made to developing countries last year. It delivered about $8 billion worth of arms to the region. Russia ranked second with $ 5.5 billion in deliveries, followed by Britain ($ 3.3 billion). The global arms sales totaled $ 40.3 billion in 2006 – down from $ 46.3 billion in 2005, according to the report produced by the Congressional Research Service.