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Combat fighters dominate Russian exports

MOSCOW, July 16 (UPI) -- Arms shipments for combat aircraft dominated Russia's export market with a 40 percent share of 2012 deliveries, a Russian defense official said.

Russia in 2012 sold $15.2 billion worth of military weapons to foreign countries, placing it just behind the United States among global arms trade leaders. The Russian Defense Ministry counts Syria, Algeria, China and Venezuela as its top export clients.

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Alexander Fomin, the defense official in charge of military exports, said combat aircraft dominated the Russian export market in 2012.

"In 2012, equipment for air forces of foreign countries led the export list with a 40 percent share, followed by weaponry for ground forces with about 28 percent, air defense equipment with 16 percent, naval equipment with 13 percent, leaving about 3 percent for other items," he was quoted saying Tuesday by state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russia's prosecutor general's office said last week there was a "high level" of bribery, forgery and abuse of power among members of the Russian armed forces. Corruption allegations extended to defense contractors

The Russian Defense Ministry said in June it signed more than $20 billion worth of contracts for 2013, about 80 percent of the quota for the year.

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