E. N. KORENDYASOV PhD in Economics Institute of Africa, Russian Academy of Sciences Keywords: Russia-Africa, African arms market, military-technical cooperation, national armies The leaders of Rosoboronexport, Russia's only state intermediary for the export / import of the entire range of military and dual-use end products, technologies and services, say: "Russia is seriously and permanently returning to the African arms and military equipment market."1. What are the prospects for achieving this goal? Military-technical cooperation (MTC) played a leading role in creating favorable and trusting conditions for the development of Soviet-African relations. Solid fundamental prerequisites were created for the long-term development of the military-technical complex. Interesting data on the volume of military supplies to Africa in the Soviet years are provided by the French researcher J. L. Servin (see Table 1). They belong to the" golden decade " of Russian-African relations and deserve attention, although they are indisputable. According to these data, the USSR supplied weapons and military equipment (IWT) to 21 countries, and its share in the total volume of arms imports by African countries in the period from 1967 to 1976 reached 40%. MILITARY COOPERATION The USSR was interpreted in Western literature and journalism as a manifestation of the desire of the Soviet leadership to establish communist regimes, to undermine the position of the Western bloc on the continent and on a global scale. Military-strategic and ideological rivalry, undoubtedly, left an imprint on the African policy of the USSR and its allies, as, indeed, the countries of the Western bloc. But it would be a simplification to assume that only these approaches determined the content and dynamics of military-technical cooperation. First, it is a mistake to ignore the positions of African countries and their leaders on this issue. Outstanding Table 1 Soviet supplies of weapons and military equipment to Afri ... Read more