Book of China's orders for Russian weapons tops $8 bln - FSMTC
ZHUHAI (China). Nov 1 (Interfax-AVN) - China will procure over $8 billion worth of armaments and military hardware from Russia in the upcoming years, Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Vladimir Drozhzhov told Interfax on Tuesday.
"At present, China ranks amongst the top five buyers of Russian weapons and military hardware, and the book of orders from that country currently exceeds $8 billion," he said on the sidelines of the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai.
The book of China's orders for Russian weapons has markedly grown since the 1990s, despite a certain decline in the middle of the 2000s, Dorzhzhov said.
"Russia and China maintain relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic integration, which sets a high level of cooperation in every area, including military-technical contacts. China traditionally occupies a leading place amongst importers of Russian armaments and military hardware," he said.
"China is demonstrating a growing interest in interaction with Russia in modern military technologies. A number of joint projects are being considered to one degree or another," he said, speaking of the prospective military-technical projects with China.