Viktor Bondarev: Our CSTO allies are interested in cooperation with the Russian military and industrial complex

Viktor Bondarev, Chairman of the Federation Council Defence and Security Committee and a member of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Defence and Security, shared his impressions of the Army 2021 International Military and Technical Forum and his vision of parliamentarians’ tasks in developing the defence capabilities of Russia and its allies.
– Mr Bondarev, in your opinion, what is the role of parliamentarians in the development of Russia’s military and industrial complex and national defence capabilities?
– Naturally, their primary role is to develop and adopt laws to promote the military and industrial complex, support our state military formations and ensure that our weapons, our best models produced by the military and industrial complex, are internationally competitive. And that everyone who sees this, who follows it, has the opportunity to receive our weapons.
As Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, said today, “Russian weapons have always been in demand on the international market, and today they reliably protect the security of many countries around the world.”
Every year more and more delegations come to the forum and look at what is on offer for them and to buy our, Russian, not anyone else’s, weapons to ensure state security of our friends and partners.
– Do you see that our partners, our allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization are interested in cooperation with Russia on military and industrial complex?
– Certainly. If there were no interest, the CSTO States’ delegations would not be headed by their defence ministers, and the number of other delegations would not increase every year. They are interested. And they cooperate. The Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Kazakhstan have their stands at the forum with very good exhibits.
Turkey, a NATO country, buys our weapons, what does this mean? Probably that it is the best. The military and industrial complex presents its models at the forum, while the Army Games are taking place at the same time; our weapons are also showcased there, and everyone is interested in them and how they work.
And another thing: during the games we can identify our shortcomings and eliminate them more effectively.

For your information:

Two major international events organized by the Russian Defence Ministry launched in Moscow: the Army 2021 Military and Technical Forum and the International Army Games.
The Games and the Forum are held simultaneously, which, according to Army General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, “first, allows participants to increase their work performance and guests to see almost the entire spectacular demonstration programme,” and second, “this format optimizes efforts to implement the set of measures aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus infection.”
The Army 2021 Forum takes place on August 22–28 in the Moscow oblast: in the Patriot park, at the Kubinka airfield, the Alabino firing range and at demonstration sites in all military districts, as well as the Northern Fleet. Participants include representatives of 115 foreign countries and more than 1,500 enterprises and organizations of the military and industrial complex.
The forum showcases over 28 thousand units of modern arms and equipment: from small arms to artillery, tanks and aviation. Most of them have been tested and used in combat, where they have proven their reliability and effectiveness.
Russian Defence Ministry’s developments in the area of artificial intelligence deserve a special mention.
First-time exhibitors include Military Innovation Technopolis ERA, an exhibition Day of Innovations of the Russian Ministry of Defence, an exposition Diversification of Russian Military and Industrial Complex and a specialized Arctic exhibition.
Apart from the Russian Federation, national expositions are presented by the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, India and Pakistan. Visitors will see more than 28,000 pieces of products and technologies.
More than 40 delegations take part in the Forum, 17 of which are headed by ministers of defence, their deputies and senior officials of defence agencies.
The participants include all Member States of the Collective Security Treaty Organization: the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan.