Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Is your country under attack from militant frogmen? Do you need hand guns that can kill terrorists in body armour at 100 metres?
If so, Russia could help.
Wednesday saw the opening of a Moscow exhibition of special forces’ weaponry that arms exporters say will help the world win its ‘‘war on terrorism’’ while earning cash for Russia’s flagging defence industry.
Weaponry apart, displays included devices for finding hidden explosives or drugs, and special crocodile-skin purses that conceal a device to squirt indelible dye into the face of anyone who opened them.
Russia’s defence industry was a global giant in the Soviet years, but fell on hard times when the cash-strapped post-1991 army had to slash its arms purchases.
‘‘In 2002, we sold these products to 30 countries. Now we are selling to 50 countries,’’ said Anatoly Isaikin, deputy director of Russian weapons exports monopoly Rosoboronexport.
He said most sales went to South East Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and that sales were only made to governments who made an official request.
‘‘We now have the weapons to adequately reply to the terrorists’ threat to our country and the world,’’ said Sergei Goncharov, the president of the Association of Veterans from Russia’s Alfa unit. —Reuters
