Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview with the Military Acceptance show, Moscow, November 30, 2025
30 November 2025 11:36
1992-30-11-2025
Question: What challenges does the Russian arms export system face in modern context, and how do we counter them in the international arena?
Sergey Lavrov: The same challenges that we face when exporting any other goods, energy commodities and finished products - sanctions and attempts to justify them by the need to punish Russia for its "behaviour" in Ukraine. In reality, it is a dirty and anti-competitive fight.
This yet another example of the West acknowledging that it is absolutely impossible to negotiate with. In this case - about the globalisation rules of a free market, presumption of innocence and many other things that the Western countries have been advocating for decades.
All of that has gone down the drain as soon as the West realised it was losing the competition. It was clinging to any excuses. In this situation our special military operation came in handy although sanctions had been imposed on the Russian defence sector long before the operation began.
We know how to offset this, because the vast majority of non-Western countries do not want to put up with "dancing to this pipe" for life. Everyone wants to trade honestly, and those who sincerely want to make mutually beneficial transactions will always find financial, banking, and logistics chains and this is what is happening now.
Question: Allow me make a little remark. Whenever we visit arms expos, our operator has the "Military acceptance" written in big Russian letters on the back of his clothes. When we were in the Repubilc of South Africa, we saw something very unexpected: a local man walks towards us, then unbuttons his shirt, and we see the St George ribbon and the letter Z. And he is one of the local elite, South African elite.
These countries are much more open to Russia. The situation is the same in Brazil. People used to approach us when they saw we are of the Russian TV, and sometimes they would even suggest giving us an interview.
Russia has been exporting weaponry for centuries. Already in the 20th and 21st centuries Soviet (and later Russian) arms became a symbol of the quality the competitors would never attain. Some of them have been imprinted in the blazonry of many countries. Can we assume that our country and its military, technological and historical heritage is viewed as a reliable guarantor of security?
Sergey Lavrov: A short answer is - yes, no doubt about it. We talked about our products being absolutely competitive. It is covered with glory including the glory of the fight against colonialism.
The Kalashnikov is a symbol of decolonisation. African countries have perfect memories of how their grandfathers and fathers were gaining independence with the help of the Soviet weaponry at that time and assisted by our advisers who "on the ground" targeted the tasks the newly independent states were resolving in their fight against colonialism.
Thus, even in the present-day situation, in the more advanced technological environments we never legged behind in this "race."
When watching reports from various air shows or expos of other military hardware, I am proud of how our products are received. I have no doubt that this is part of Russia's authority in the international arena, part of the material basis of Russian foreign policy.
We will always promote, in a coordinated manner, the tasks set by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the doctrinal documents regarding Russia's actions and the protection of its legitimate interests in the international arena.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
