Russian Arms Trade Approach in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Economic and Strategic Aspects

This article tries to analyse the goals Russia pursues by trying to develop arms trade with the MENA region and the implications of this approach for the region. The article argues that Russia’s goals can be divided into two general categories of economic and strategic objectives. Although in the short term, the implications of this approach for MENA is fomenting arms race in the region and the increased possibility of proxy wars, this process can in the long term turn into a contributing factor in stabilizing the balance of power in the region between the US allies and anti-American governments. A qualitative method based on the description and analysis of trends has been adopted in this article. Although statistical data on Russia’s arms sales is taken into consideration and analysed here as well, the nature of the study and the basis of final analysis remain qualitative. An inductive approach will have been used in this article and it is tried to take advantage of the collected data in order to achieve a proper pattern for analyzing the objectives and implications of Russia’s arms trade approach in MENA.