GRAZ, Austria — Russia earned over $15 billion from arms exports in 2025, supplying military equipment to more than 30 countries despite Western sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin announced last week, though questions remain about the number’s validity.

Speaking at a Jan. 30 meeting of the Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow, Putin said export contracts had been “reliably fulfilled” despite mounting pressure from Western nations attempting to block Russia’s defense partnerships. The revenue, he said, would help modernize defense enterprises, expand production capacity and fund research programs.

The $15 billion figure represents a significant income stream for Russia’s defense industrial base as the country continues its war in Ukraine, now approaching its fourth year. The revenue may help offset some effects of Western economic sanctions, though the long-term sustainability of these export levels remains uncertain given Moscow’s increased own consumption of military goods and ongoing diplomatic isolation.​

If accurate, the new numbers would represent a remarkable rebound to near pre-war levels for Russia’s military exports.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which closely tracks the global major arms trade using transparent methodology, Russian large weapons exports fell 47% between 2022 and 2024, while the broader trend reveals a 64% decline comparing the 2015-19 period to 2020-24, though the descent began before the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia dropped to third place globally for arms exports, behind the U.S. and France, by 2024 due to its declining influence in the global military marketplace, SIPRI data shows.

There may be credibility problems with the official Russian numbers. The government in Moscow claimed $13.75 billion in exports for 2024, while Western analysts estimated them to be billions of dollars lower.

Russian arms exports collapsed between 2021 and 2023 and may have dropped from $14.6 billion to approximately $3 billion, according to an analysis from the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington-based think tank founded in 1984 to support Soviet defectors.

While exact estimates differ, the trend holds true across methodologies and Western reports.

Russia stopped publicly disclosing detailed data on arms export contracts following the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including ceasing to provide information to relevant United Nations organizations.

This has also made it harder for independent observers to accurately estimate the full picture of Russia’s arms trade, evidenced by divergent estimates by different Western organizations.

SIPRI data shows Russia’s leading arms companies, Rostec and United Shipbuilding Corporation, increased their revenues by 23% in 2025, but this growth came from domestic military demand, which the researchers note “more than offset the revenues lost due to falling arms exports.”

Putin’s announcement came alongside new remarks from Rosoboronexport’s CEO, Alexander Mikheyev, who told the Russian state news agency TASS that military-technical cooperation with African countries has reached levels last seen during the Soviet era and “surpassed it in some respects.” Rosoboronexport is also expanding its activities in Africa, Mikheyev said, following the presidential commission meeting.​

Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state arms export monopoly, oversees more than 85 percent of the country’s military exports. The company has concluded over 30,000 contracts with 122 countries since its establishment, with total exports exceeding $230 billion.

In total, the company’s order book now exceeds $60 billion, Mikheyev said on Jan. 30.

The Kremlin has prioritized arms sales to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, which aren’t directly subject to the Western restrictions imposed following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Putin said more than 340 joint defense projects with 14 countries were either underway or in development, and announced additional state support measures for military exports covering 2026 through 2028.​

If the reported numbers are accurate, Russia’s ability to maintain arms exports at these levels would raise questions about Western sanctions effectiveness. While the restrictions have targeted Russia’s banking, technology, and trade sectors, many countries in Africa and Asia continue to do business with Russia and purchase Russian military equipment due to lower costs and longstanding defense relationships. The continued sales also reflect Moscow’s use of its weapons exports to strengthen its geopolitical position in far-flung parts of the globe.

However, Russia’s defense industry is already operating at wartime production levels to supply its own military. Defense spending had reached 7.3% of GDP as of December 2025, according to official numbers. Additionally, combat losses of Russian-made equipment in Ukraine, Venezuela and Iran may have raised questions among some potential buyers about the effectiveness of Moscow’s weapons systems in modern warfare.