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Russia vying with U.S. in third world arms market

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MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is America's main rival on the global arms market, particularly in deliveries to the developing world, a popular Russian daily reported Friday.

Vremya Novostei wrote that, according to an annual U.S. Congress study, military sales worldwide jumped in 2004 to their highest level since 2000, driven by arms deals with developing nations.

The report, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations", says that arms contracts worth $37 billion were signed throughout the world in 2004, an increase of 23% on the $28.5 billion from 2003. Of last year's total, the United States sold $12.1 billion worth of weaponry, with Russian sales equaling $6.1 billion. The developing world bought $21.8 billion worth of weapons and combat hardware in 2004, an increase of 44% on 2003.

According to the report, this market is dominated by the United States and Russia and the difference between their arms-sale volumes is not that great. In 2004, the United States and developing countries signed arms contracts worth $6.9 billion, whereas similar Russian contracts were valued at $5.9 billion.

India, Saudi Arabia and China bought more weapons than other developing countries in 2004. The report's authors said China and India bought the bulk of their weaponry from Russia.

"Nonetheless, Washington does not have any military concerns in regard to China or India at this time," said Nikolai Zlobin, the director of Russian and Asian Programs at the Center for Defense Information (CDI), a Washington-based independent monitor of the military. The White House understands that both countries lag 50 years behind the United States in terms of weapons production.

"However, the United States fears that India or China can upgrade their current Russian made weapons that were purchased in 1997-1998," Zlobin said. As a result, pressure could be exerted on Moscow, so that it sells only those weapons that cannot be modernized. "Washington believes that Moscow will not sell such weapons to them," the expert added.

According to the paper, Russia controls nearly 82% of the Asian arms market and the United States dominates the Middle East. Both countries have also "divided" Latin America and Africa between themselves. Washington sells more weaponry to Latin America, whereas African countries are mostly supplied by Russia.

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