As reported by the RBC news agency in the article "The pandemic has reduced secret exports from Russia. Against the background of a decline in supplies to foreign customers, Algeria became the largest recipient of weapons, " exports from Russia according to closed items of customs statistics, which include weapons and military equipment, fell by 16% in 2020, to $ 11.5 billion. This happened against the backdrop of a pandemic that delayed deliveries to a number of foreign customers.
One of the MiG-29M2 fighters built in 2020 for the Algerian Air Force at the Production Complex No. 1 of JSC RSC MiG in Lukhovitsy (Algerian tail number FB-99) (c) www.menadefense.net
Russian exports, hidden in customs statistics under the SSSS code, which includes weapons, military equipment, aircraft and some nuclear materials, in 2020 decreased by 15.6%, to $11.48 billion, according to annual data from the Federal Customs Service (FCS), posted on February 8 and analyzed by RBC. In 2019, exports under the SSSS code amounted to $13.6 billion.
We are talking about the total supply of weapons (weapons and ammunition, military aircraft, warships, tanks and armored vehicles), civil aircraft and helicopters, as well as some nuclear materials of the group 28 TN FEA ("Products of inorganic chemistry, compounds of rare earth metals, radioactive elements or isotopes"). It is impossible to single out exclusively "military" exports in the open statistics of the FCS.
In January-September 2020 the export of weapons and ammunition (group 93 HS) from Russia amounted to $1.32 billion - 2.4 times smaller than for the same period in 2019 ($3.19 billion), from individual data FCS, published in the book "the Documents of customs statistics of foreign trade". Exports of aircraft (civil and military; Group 88) increased by 35%, to $3.83 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Russia delivered another $4.21 billion worth of weapons and aircraft equipment (Groups 88, 93) abroad, which means that deliveries significantly accelerated compared to the first three quarters of the year. In addition, military supplies - ships and armored vehicles-are included in groups 87 of the HS ("Means of land transport") and 89 ("Ships, boats and floating structures").
Impact of the pandemic
The largest areas of Russian arms exports traditionally remain Algeria, China, India, and Egypt, according to the FCS data. In 2020, Algeria came out on top (almost $2 billion), pushing Egypt (in 2019 - almost $ 2.4 billion). In October 2020, the portal Menadefense.net I reported that Algeria received the first batch of MiG-29M/M2 fighters from Russia.
However, Russia's military supplies to China, Egypt, India, and Turkey declined in 2020, according to the FCS data. In December 2020, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta that due to the coronavirus, Russia postponed the supply of weapons to a number of foreign customers. "Among the most affected countries were Russia's main partners in the field of military-technical cooperation - Algeria, Egypt, India, China and others," Fomin said.
About 25% of the contracts were transferred from 2020 to 2021, said Dmitry Tarasov, CEO of the Kalashnikov Group of companies, in an interview with RBC in February. The delays occurred "due to various circumstances provoked by the pandemic," he said. RBC sent a request to the office of Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, who oversees the defense industry.
New recipients
In the list of recipients of Russian weapons and/or aircraft (exports encoded at the level of two SS characters - combines groups 88 and 93) in 2020, unusual countries appeared-Hong Kong ($570 million, an increase from less than $1 million in 2019) and Estonia ($377 million, an increase from $31 million in 2019), according to the FCS data. In general, the volume of deliveries of Russian military products abroad in 2020 amounted to about $13 billion, the same as in 2019, according to the head of Rostec (includes the state intermediary for the export of weapons " Rosoboronexport") Sergey Chemezov. RBC sent a request to the press service of the Federal Customs Service with a request to explain the difference in the figures.
The hidden export of certain chemical compounds from Russia in 2020 amounted to $1.39 billion, according to the Federal Customs Service. Including about $590 million of such materials were exported to the United States, resulting in exports from Russia to the United States, encoded at the level of four SSSS characters, amounted to almost $870 million.
Open mirror statistics of the US State Bureau of Statistics Census Bureau shows that in 2020, the US imported from Russia "military equipment" for $120 million and materials related to" nuclear fuel " for $610 million (in total, approximately corresponds to Russian exports of SSSS to the United States).
The hidden import of aircraft
Imports to Russia under the secret customs code SSSS in 2020 increased by a third to $7.85 billion. As RBC wrote, the FCS mainly codes the delivery of civil aircraft to Russia by Boeing (of US origin), Airbus (France), Bombardier (Canada), etc.Imports to Russia of American passenger aircraft by Boeing can actually pass under the SS code, Kommersant reported in 2014.
The largest sources SSSS-import to Russia according to the data for 2020 is the United States ($4.04 billion), France ($2.07 billion) and Germany ($0.85 billion), the data show FCS. At the same time, the FCS, in accordance with international standards, takes into account imports by the country of origin of the goods - therefore, an imported Boeing aircraft will be counted as imports from the United States, even if it is imported, for example, from Switzerland or Ireland.Foreign trade statistics of the American Census Bureau show that the United States in 2020 exported to Russia civil aircraft and their parts only for $321 million (in 2019-for $1.2 billion). This means that the rest of the US-made aircraft could have been in use for a long time and be purchased in third countries.
