Military-technical cooperation with foreign states not only brings Russia billions of dollars, but is also an essential tool for solving geopolitical problems. Vlast has found out how the arms trade system was created in modern Russia, what changes have already taken place in it, and what are only expected.
The system of domestic arms export was formed almost a hundred years ago. The beginning was laid in 1917 with the emergence of the Interdepartmental Committee for Overseas Supply with an executive body in the form of the head office of the same name. But the day of the emergence of the system of military-technical cooperation (MTC) is considered to be May 8, 1953 - on this day, the USSR Council of Ministers issued an order to create a Chief Engineering Directorate (GIU) under the Ministry of Internal and Foreign Trade, which served as a state intermediary in the sale of weapons abroad. … Up to this point, there were several units that had the right to military technical cooperation (IU of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, 9th Directorate of the War Ministry, 10th Directorate of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, 10th Division of the Naval General Staff, etc.), which made it difficult to interact and complicated control over the supply of weapons to foreign states. The creation of the SMI - a narrow-profile coordinating body in the field of military-technical cooperation - was intended to resolve this problem.
Two years later, it was reassigned to the Main Directorate for Economic Relations with People's Democracies (GUDES) under the USSR Council of Ministers, and two years later it became a member of the USSR State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations (GKES). It was entrusted with the functions of considering applications from foreign countries for the preparation of draft resolutions of the government of the USSR, the execution of contracts, ensuring the shipment of military equipment and weapons, as well as settlements with customers for the supply of military-technical property. In 1958, by order of the government of the USSR, within the framework of the GKES, the Main Technical Directorate (GTU) appeared on the basis of the 5th Directorate of the SMI: it was engaged in the construction of repair enterprises for the overhaul and medium repair of military equipment, the supply of spare parts, the provision of technical assistance, the creation of special facilities. These two directorates - GIU and GTU - will remain key for the entire arms export of the country until the early 1990s. In 1992, the SMI will be transformed into the foreign economic association "Oboronexport", and the GTU - into the foreign economic state company "Spetsvneshtekhnika". But they will not last long: in November 1993, on their basis, a state company for the export and import of weapons and military equipment, Rosvooruzhenie, will be created. This company became the first independent commercial organization in the field of military-technical cooperation, the activities of which were not controlled by any of the federal executive authorities.
Equipment and weapons were supplied either against an issued loan, or generally free of charge.
Russia inherited a seemingly good legacy from the Soviet military-technical cooperation system. Rear Admiral (retired) Sergei Krasnov, who worked in the State Institute of Management in 1969-1989, and later headed the State Technical University, claims that "the scale of cooperation in the field of military-technical cooperation in the Soviet years was enormous." “Suffice it to say that the volume of profits amounted to tens of billions of dollars. In total, in different years, including 1992 - the last year of the existence of the GIU, we supplied military equipment to almost 70 countries of the world, - he recalled in an interview with the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. - For comparison: before the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union supplied weapons only six countries: Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, China and Spain."
Despite such a wide geography of supplies, the income of the USSR from the export of arms was practically not felt: in monetary terms, the volume of supplies to some countries amounted to tens of billions of dollars, but equipment and weapons were supplied either on account of a loan issued or generally free of charge. Thus, the Soviet leadership supported the governments of friendly (primarily socialist) countries. In 1977-1979, the Redut-E anti-ship coastal missile systems were delivered to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and in 1983 to the Syrian Arab Republic. The latter, by the way, had a total debt for weapons and military equipment purchased from the USSR amounted to about $ 10 billion.
The Soviet military-technical cooperation system - cumbersome and overly bureaucratic - turned out to be completely unprepared for the new Russian realities. The enterprises of the military-industrial complex in the conditions of the collapse of the economy and, as a result, a tiny domestic order, were on the brink of survival. This thesis, however, was not shared by everyone. For example, in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, the head of Rosvooruzheniye, Viktor Samoilov, said that the company "by concentrating its efforts in one hands" managed to restore the sales markets: "If a year ago (1993 -" Vlast ") we had about for $ 1.5 billion of signed contracts, then today (November 1994 - "Vlast") - for $ 3.4 billion ". “We have tripled the volume of future commitments. Believe me, it was not easy to do: both people and enterprises were the same in 1992-1993, little has changed here. It was really a very difficult period for us, but the work bore fruit. This does not mean at all that a certain General Samoilov came, whose head turned out to be square in comparison with the others - the soil was being prepared before us, "the head of the company said. In fact, the salvation was not so much the work of Rosvooruzheniye, but a combination of circumstances: around this time, orders began to appear from India and China, which could afford to pay for products in real money and showed a desire to develop their defense industry by purchasing technology. Demand for Su-family combat aircraft and air defense systems increased almost immediately. Enterprises were able to breathe a little, but the situation was still difficult, because their capacities were underutilized. According to the memoirs of officials who worked in the military-technical cooperation sphere, many enterprises were ready to supply products to anyone and in any way, just to see the money. All this happened against the background of the creation in December 1994 of the State Committee for Military-Technical Cooperation - a controlling structure closed to the president and having the ability to endow industrial enterprises with the right to conduct foreign economic activities. One way or another, but according to official statistics, revenue from arms exports was growing: in 1994 it amounted to $ 1.72 billion, in 1995 - $ 3.05 billion, in 1996 - $ 3.52 billion.
With the advent of Rosoboronexport, the arms trade took off
Photo: Victor Tolochko / TASS
In addition to Rosvooruzheniye, the Defense Ministry also had the right to sell weapons. As a former secret service official told Vlast, in the 1990s, the department's 10th department involved in military-technical cooperation had the right to sell almost any weapon from military arsenals, many of which were packed with Soviet weapons. “Many people then got burned out on this,” says the source of “Vlast.”No one de facto controlled the process of selling weapons by the military: they did what they wanted, but it turned out that they sold to just anyone and whatever. That was the tragedy. For example, in the mid-1990s, it was unofficially reported about the transfer of some of the weapons on the balance sheet of the Western Group of Forces in Germany to the Balkans. In addition, according to the intelligence officer, at that moment there were leaks of technology for the production of weapons abroad, illegal re-export and copying of samples of our weapons.
An attempt to reform the MTC system was made in August 1997, when the Promexport company was formed. According to Boris Yeltsin's decree "On measures to strengthen state control over foreign trade in the sphere of military-technical cooperation of the Russian Federation with foreign states", the task of the new company was to sell abroad military equipment released from the armed forces in connection with the ongoing military reform (Minister of Defense at that moment there was Igor Sergeev). According to several Vlast's interlocutors who worked in the military-technical cooperation sphere, Boris Yeltsin has periodically voiced this idea at closed meetings since 1994. However, carefully listening to the proposals, he took time to think, consulted with the staff of his administration (we note, he even had an assistant on military technical cooperation, Boris Kuzyk), and promised to make a decision soon. But nothing happened for two years.
According to various estimates, by the end of the 1990s, India and China accounted for up to 80% of military exports; it was not possible to enter, let alone gain a foothold in the markets of other countries. Competition between defense enterprises on external sites grew, and the powers of Rosvooruzheniye and Promexport, despite a completely different range of tasks, were duplicated. The Kremlin and the government began to understand that the military-technical cooperation system was in urgent need of reform. According to "Vlast", their proposals in 1998 were prepared by the special services, the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the military. However, due to the economic crisis that broke out in August of the same year, they decided to postpone this issue. A radical reform of the arms export system was carried out only in 2000 under the new head of state - Vladimir Putin.
In November 2000, President Putin created a special exporter of weapons, military and special equipment, Rosoboronexport, which included Promexport and Rosvooruzhenie. The new structure was headed by a native of the special services Andrei Belyaninov (now the head of the Federal Customs Service), and Sergei Chemezov (now the general director of the Rostec state corporation) became his first deputy. At the same time, the Committee for Military-Technical Cooperation (KVTS) was created in the Ministry of Defense, the head of which was Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Mikhail Dmitriev. He believes that the 1990s cannot be considered lost: “People were normal, but the situation in the country simply did not allow the system to develop. "We moved to Rosoboronexport".
The Syrian military wants to buy Russian weapons, but so far the warring Damascus has no money for this
Photo: SANA / Reuters
As Sergei Chemezov told Vlast, he worked on the reform together with the then Deputy Prime Minister for the Defense Industry Complex Ilya Klebanov: or other countries, and create a commission under the head of state - a collegial body "(see the interview" There was not a single year when volumes fell, there was always an increase ").“The task was to break the existing military-technical cooperation system,” recalls Mikhail Dmitriev in an interview with Vlast. Vladimir Vladimirovich did not have the first meeting on arms exports. The decision to create a single state mediator is a positive moment. " According to him, in the new system - with Rosoboronexport and KVTS - a "presidential vertical" has really appeared: "It was convenient in order to quickly resolve the necessary issues."
The solvent countries did not want to acquire Russian weapons, since they were in debt to the USSR.
One way or another, the military-technical cooperation system was undergoing a radical breakdown. Rosoboronexport received the right to conduct foreign economic activity in terms of the supply of finished products, while enterprises were deprived of the necessary licenses for this. The directors of the factories did not want to lose their freedom and be content with only the supply of spare parts for the supplied products. According to the recollections of several Vlast's sources in the defense complex, the Tula Instrument-Making Design Bureau very actively resisted, which, until the license was revoked in 2007, was selling Kornet-E anti-tank systems for $ 150-200 million annually abroad. "They fulfilled their obligations under previously concluded contracts, and we did not want to create a precedent in the new configuration," another interlocutor explains the logic of the decision. Some officials from the arms trade itself were also opposed, believing that a substitution of concepts could occur: they say, all military-technical cooperation will be directed not at the development of the defense industry, but at the commercial interests of the special exporter. But they turned out to be a minority. In 2004, Sergei Chemezov headed Rosoboronexport, and Mikhail Dmitriev - the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (successor to the KVTS). “We removed all internal competition in the Russian defense industry, turning into a powerful fist, and they began to perceive us on the world market,” says a Rosoboronexport employee. “In 2000, Russia received $ 2.9 billion, and after 16 years this amount has multiplied. So we did everything right. " This completed the internal reform of the military-technical cooperation system.
Photo: Vladimir Musaelyan / TASS
Now it was necessary to start work on attracting new partners in the market. If relations with India and China in the middle of the 2000s continued to develop quite successfully, then it was quite difficult to enter the sites of other countries. Politics had to get involved: solvent countries like Vietnam, Syria and Algeria did not want to acquire Russian weapons, since they were in debt to the USSR. In 2000, Moscow forgave $ 9.53 billion to Hanoi, in 2005 - about $ 10 billion to Damascus, in 2006 - $ 4.7 billion to Algeria. “We understood that we would never see this money, but as soon as we put an end to the issue of debt obligations, things immediately changed: we signed a package of contracts with Algeria for 4.5 billion. This is a matter of pure politics,” the source said. "in the government. Since then, MTC issues have been paid attention to by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and, naturally, at the level of the first person." In 2007, Rosoboronexport became a subsidiary of the state corporation Rostekhnologii - it was headed by Sergei Chemezov, and Anatoly Isaikin was appointed head of the state intermediary.
A high-ranking Vlast source in the Kremlin believes that the current military-technical cooperation system is somewhat bureaucratic, but he is convinced that compared to the options proposed in the 2000s, the scheme proposed by Sergei Chemezov and Ilya Klebanov turned out to be the best. "The parent organizations need to be given work on the foreign market, but only to a certain extent. You cannot give the right to supply final samples of weapons to just anyone, because we must know to whom and what we are selling, how it will be used, against whom. So that later this same weapon does not fire at us, "says the source of Vlast.
For 16 years, Russia has formed the backbone of the main buyers (including India, China, Venezuela, Vietnam, Iraq, Algeria), due to which Russia forms its portfolio of orders. Rosoboronexport associates certain prospects for advancing to world markets with Mi and Ka helicopters; anti-aircraft missile systems and S-400 Triumph, Antey-2500, Buk-M2E, Tor-M2E, Pantsir-S1 air defense missile systems, Igla-S MANPADS. In the naval sphere - with frigates of project 11356 and "Gepard-3.9", submarines of project 636 and "Amur-1650" and patrol boats "Svetlyak" and "Molniya". The ground part is represented by modernized T-90S tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles and vehicles based on them, and Tiger armored vehicles. Su-30, MiG-29 and Su-35 fighters are enjoying success; the demand for Yak-130 combat training aircraft is quite high.
Vladimir Putin closed the military-technical cooperation management system to himself
Photo: Dmitry Azarov, Kommersant
It should not be forgotten that through the export of arms Russia is able to achieve dividends in the international arena: the supply of weapons to one country or another can radically change the balance of power in the region. For example, in 2005 and 2014, Moscow could supply Iskander operational-tactical complexes and S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, respectively, to Syria, but at Tel Aviv's request it did not. According to Vlast, in return the Israelis provided assistance to the Russian Federation through the special services.
"If we were to contract the latest air defense systems with everyone who wants them, then the capacities would be loaded for decades ahead without taking into account the order of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation," says an official from the military-technical cooperation sphere. for $ 20 billion with Saudi Arabia, but they threw us at the last moment. Or the story of the refusal to supply S-300 to Iran in 2011 - it turned into image losses for us. But in any case, we were and remain competitive. We are recognized in the world ".
According to him, there will not be any fundamental changes in the military-technical cooperation system in the near future: "As far as I know, Vladimir Vladimirovich is satisfied with everything and there are no complaints about the activities of Rosoboronexport and, in general, to the sphere of arms export."
