Military expert Andrey Frolov on Friday, July 2, called Izvestia the factors that had a negative impact on Ukrainian arms exports, adding that Russia has nothing to do with this.
"It is no secret that Ukrainian exports are falling. The question is not about any malicious actions of Russia, because for some reason, until 2014, competition did not interfere with anyone in any way, several factors simply converged here. On the one hand, the Ukrainian military-technical cooperation system is in a fever, when under [ex-President of Ukraine Petro] Poroshenko and [President of the country Vladimir] Ukrspetsexport, plus other exporting companies, constantly fought for it, and it did not always benefit, "he said.
Also, according to the expert, Ukraine largely provided its high indicators of the 90s and 2000s by supplying not new weapons, but stocks left over from Soviet times. Frolov noted that some were sold in pure form, others were modernized, and, naturally, over the years, liquid weapons became less and less.
"At the same time, the market, traditional for Ukrainians, was overstocked. And when the operation of the Ukrainian armed forces in the east of Ukraine began, these systems themselves were needed and there was no time for sales. In addition to all this, in the post-Soviet years, Ukraine practically did not create new weapons systems that correspond to the world level, "the interlocutor of Izvestia stressed.
The military expert noted that it is impossible to leave the old Soviet reserve for a long time, and nothing new is being created, so there is a natural washing out of Ukrainian positions on the world market, adding that "all this is a conversation in favor of the poor."
"Despite "as if Russian pressure", the Ukrainians, nevertheless, received a contract for the modernization of the Il-78, a tanker aircraft located in Pakistan, although Russia could also repair them, having good relations with this state. All this is just an attempt to explain their own failures and failures, " the expert concluded.
On the eve of the Ukrainian military expert Valentin Badrak said that Kiev's arms exports had collapsed, among other things, due to Russia's "malicious" actions. According to him, the country began to lose its position in the arms market in 2014.
Badrak also called Russia a global competitor of Ukraine in the arms market and accused it of creating "big obstacles" for Kiev in this industry. According to him, now Kiev is restoring its position in the market and developing its military-industrial complex, and Russia is allegedly experiencing a "technological decline" and "technological degradation".
In August 2019, Izvestia wrote that after the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine got one of the most powerful military groups in the world. It is the existing weapons that have become the basis of export trade.
At the same time, most often the Ukrainian authorities sold equipment at a low price.
Another characteristic feature of Ukrainian military exports, many experts called the promiscuity in choosing partners, among which were Chechen militants, North Korea, Iraq during the time of Saddam Hussein.
