Russia open to military-technical cooperation with other states – Putin

Moscow is willing to further develop military-technical cooperation with other countries that understand the importance of building an equal and indivisible security system, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the Army-2023 expo on Monday.

“Russia is open to deepening equal technological partnership and military-technical cooperation with other countries, with everyone who defends their national interests, their independent path of development, and considers it fundamentally important to build together an equal indivisible security system that would reliably protect each state,” he said in a video message to participants at the forum.  

The Russian leader noted that, over the past several years, the Army expo has become recognized as one of the world’s largest forums on modern military products and innovations, and has contributed to the development of military-technical cooperation and multifaceted relations between Russia and other nations. 

Putin noted that more than 1,500 Russian enterprises were presenting over 28,500 samples of modern military and dual-use products at stands, expositions and training grounds at Patriot Park near Moscow during the expo. The business program of the forum also features 250 events dedicated to the diversification of the military-industrial complex and the development of artificial intelligence technologies.

“Russia has something to offer in these breakthrough, promising areas. Year by year, we have a growing market for products that use artificial intelligence technologies,” the president said.

Putin added that more and more foreign military-industrial companies had started participating in the forum, noting that last year there were 32 foreign companies exhibiting products at the event, while this year that number is 82. 

Russia intends to further develop cooperation with other countries in a variety of areas, Putin said, including training foreign military personnel conducting joint strategic command-and-staff exercises.

The Army 2023 forum kicked off outside Moscow on Monday, August 14 and will run for a week. The annual event is being held at multiple venues, including the Patriot Expo venue, as well as the Kubinka Air Base and Alabino military training grounds.

Negotiations at last year’s expo led to the signing of numerous contracts between various parties worth a total of over 500 billion rubles, or nearly $8 billion at the time.

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