Kremlin to oversee defence coop with India, China

While, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who will be the deputy chairman of the commission, will oversee arms supply talks with Venezuela, Libya and Algeria, countries with which large contracts were signed during his tenure as president.  

Analysts say the geographical division of arms export responsibilities between Medvedev and Putin will allow Russia to sell weapons even to warring sides.  

"There were cases in the past when Russia sold weapons to warring sides, for example during the latest armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It acted through two different agents then.  "It now has only one authorised arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, but the division of the markets between the President and the Prime Minister may solve the problem," Director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), Kommersant.