MOSCOW, Feb 10: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia sold $8.35 billion worth of arms last year, a new post-Soviet record.

And despite a rise of $800 million (around 10 per cent) in arms sales on 2007, Medvedev told his top officials to boost further purchases by seeking out new international markets.

“It is obvious that this year will not be easy because the whole world is going through the financial crisis, and this affects purchase volumes, arms purchases too,” he said, according to a statement on the Kremlin website.—AFP