ON MILITARY-TECHNICAL COOPERATION OF THE RUSSIAN
FEDERATION WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES
A. I. Nikolaichuk
Arms sales, the design and manufacture of military products for other countries, represent an
important and delicate sphere that exclude the making of discrete decisions by a limited group of
persons..The industrial base and defence infrastructure are connected to society via thousands of
channels. Its foreign relations are of economic and political significance. Incomes from Russian
arms sales total nearly 5 billion dollars. When Russia is experiencing economic difficulties this is
the area where real struggle develops. It involves corporate forces and lobby groups whose
activities frequently becomes counter-productive for the state.
An effective and strict public control, primarily parliamentary, is required to prevent any
unconstitutional actions in this field. That is why the adoption itself of the Law ‘On MilitaryTechnical Cooperation of the Russian Federation with Foreign Countries’ could be considered a
result and manifestation of the democratic reforming of Russia. This law provides the legal basis
for preventing possible collisions or dictation of corporate interests in this field.
The text of the Law does not allow for the creation of any specific mechanisms of civil control over
military-technical cooperation. It reads: “All issues associated with military-technical cooperation of
the Russian Federation with foreign countries are under the exclusive authority of the state
administration bodies of the Russian Federation”. However, the Parliament, as one of the most
important state power entities, is simultaneously a main public control link. The Law grants
sufficient prerogatives to the Russian Parliament to take into account public interests in this field
while discussing, correcting, and adopting the state budget and while ratifying international treaties.
In this sensitive field of military construction and international relations, it is the law that imparts
legal definition and the legislative limits of activities.
From the juridical point of view the Law adequately outlines the mechanisms responsible for
exercising the right to participate in military-technical cooperation. At the same time, economic
practices of participants of this cooperation constantly give rise to situations which force them to
appeal to the institutions of civil society. It is these institutions (rather than authorized power bodies
or economic entities) which are most active in exercising initiatives that have far-reaching
consequences. With this, military-technical cooperation has shifted from a position of secrecy to
that of open clashes of intra-political interests. Its unprecedented and frequently unjustified
limpidity has become of public concern. It would seem that somebody is seeking to turn the
concept “civil control” of military-technical cooperation to that of “civil management”.
In the interests of enhancing the efficiency of the military-technical cooperation system of Russia
with foreign countries, it is necessary to specify and define the content of the authorities of civil
control entities and the mechanisms of their functioning (authoritative powers of higher state power
bodies; controlling and supervisory activities of special supra-departmental authorities; principles of
observation and information of society about the business situation in this field by the institutions of
civil society, including mass media, research centers, public associations; citizens’ addresses).
It is clear that the Law cannot envisage all details. However, it should outline principles relating to
the alteration of some of its basic ‘economic’ provisions in the consideration of the opinion of civil
control entities. It is difficult to contend that such alterations in the Law represent the exclusive
prerogative of federal authorities, primarily the Government of the Russian Federation.