Russia Asks Allies if It Can Have Its Weapons Back: Report

Russia has reportedly attempted to get back some of the weapons it has exported to countries such as Pakistan, Egypt, Belarus and Brazil, in order to boost its arsenal for the ongoing war with Ukraine.

In a report published on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing three people with knowledge of the matter, said a delegation of Russian officials who visited Cairo in April 2022 asked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to return more than 100 engines from Russian helicopters that are needed for the full-scale invasion.

Reportedly complying with Moscow's request, the Egyptian leader agreed to return some helicopter engines, with the first delivery—about 150—likely beginning in December, the sources said. It's unclear how many Cairo will send back to Moscow in total.

Russia attempted to make similar deals with Pakistan, Belarus, and Brazil, the sources said. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry told the WSJ it hadn't been approached by Moscow, Brazil said it refused to comply, and Belarus reportedly agreed to send six Mi-26 heavy-transport helicopter engines back to Moscow.

Recent reports suggest that Russia, which is the second-largest global arms exporter behind the U.S., has been attempting to expand its weapons stockpile amid President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which he launched in February 2022.

South Korea's military said last week that North Korea has likely supplied several types of missiles, ammunition, and shells to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, although Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms deals.

"Russia spent decades building its arms trade," one source told the WSJ. "Now they're going back in secret to their customers trying to buy back what they sold them."

Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Russia, Egypt, Pakistan, Belarus, and Brazil, for comment.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in March that Russia was beginning to run low on a stockpile of weapons its military has maintained for decades.

"Russia is running out of prepared stockpiles of weapons," Danilov wrote. "Missiles and military equipment have been accumulating for decades. The calculations called for blitzkrieg, not blitzutilization."

Russia's "corrupt economy" is unable to sustain the production of new weapons, making foreign aid for Russia "a matter of primary importance," he said.

Russian ally Iran has been accused of providing the country with a large number of Shahed-136 drones, which have been used to target Ukraine's infrastructure. China has denied sending weapons to Russia to support its invasion of Ukraine, and has maintained it holds a neutral position on the war.

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