Correction appended.
Undeterred by a standing EU arms embargo against Russia, some 20 Russian defense firms travelled to France to participate in a major international arms expo that opened Monday, according a statement by Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, a state agency that monitors the arms sector.
The Euronaval expo is one of Europe's largest arms exhibitions, organized biannually by the French Defense Ministry. This year, it will be attended by 300 companies representing 25 nations. About 150 of the companies are French.
The EU accounts for $3 billion of Russian global arms exports. Russia has already sold $10 billion this year. Sixty percent of Russia's arms sales go to China, India and Algeria, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Russian arms exports were expected to be worth $30 billion in 2014. In fact, Russia has sold $10 billion-worth of arms so far this year, and as of July had a portfolio of orders worth about $50 billion, according to President Vladimir Putin.
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