SIPRI ranks Kazakhstan third among Russian arms importers after India and China

According to international observers, Ukraine was the largest importer of various types of arms between 2020 and 2024. The United States increased its share of global arms supplies to 43%, while Russia reported a 64% decline in exports.

A survey by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that the U.S. role in global arms exports has surged, while Russian arms exports continue to decline.

Between 2020 and 2024, Russia supplied arms to 33 countries. India (38%), China (17%), and Kazakhstan (11%) received two-thirds of these exports.

Experts noted that the decline began before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

«The war against Ukraine has further accelerated the drop in Russia’s arms exports because more weapons are needed on the battlefield, trade sanctions make it harder for Russia to produce and sell its weapons, and the U.S. and its allies pressure states not to buy Russian arms,» said Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.

Two of Russia’s most important arms-trading relationships had already weakened before 2022, with India increasingly favoring other suppliers and China sourcing more arms from its growing domestic industry, the survey found.