Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Russian Armament Industry Only Inches From Bankrupcy

Not sure if it's good news or bad.
If you shoot the relatively cheap Wolf or Barnaul ammo this could be bad.
If you don't trust Russians (and I don't), this could be good.
Anyway, one thing is for sure: if the Russkies want to jump start their dying firearms and ammunition industry, the best thing they can do is to elect Obama as President next time around.


One third of Russian armament manufacturers are almost bankrupt and the industry is trying to obtain financial credit from Western banks as the loans from Russian banks are too expensive.

"Only 36% of the firearms and military equipment can be considered as being financially stable while 30% are close to go belly up" says Russian Technologies CEO Serghei Cemezov. He added: "almost half of the manufacturers of ammunition and explosives are bankrupt. Unfortunately the situation has worsened during the last four months"


Cermezov has become one of the most influential businessman during the mandate of the ex-Russian President Vladimir Putin by building a state owned industrial empire encompassing the world's biggest titanium producer, the biggest Russian automotive manufacturer and one of the world's largest military technology and armament exporters.

However, the Russian industrial output is in steep decline for the first time since 1998. The Russian Federation had defaulted its domestic financial credits and allowed its currency to depreciate vs. the US Dollar. The crisis highlights Russia's excessive dependency on oil and raw material exports.

Translated from Ziare.com by Transsylvania Phoenix

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