Please join the Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University for a talk by Dr. Pavel Luzin who will analyze the key trends and challenges in arms manufacturing that took place in Russia after four years of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

The surge in Russian arms manufacturing during 2023-2024 was driven largely by two factors: heavy reliance on available manpower and the drawdown of existing stockpiles of conventional arms. These measures bolstered output in the short term. However, by the end of 2025, both the labor pool and the stockpiles of conventional arms will be nearly depleted, leaving little room for further growth in arms production.

Although Russia has managed to accelerate the production of missiles and drones, it remains heavily dependent on external sources for critical military supplies. In particular, Russia relies on artillery shells from North Korea and imports key components and machine tools from China to sustain its defense industry.

Looking ahead, the most likely trajectory for Russia’s military-industrial complex is a shift toward simplifying and standardizing its weapon designs—a move that would streamline production by focusing on a narrower range of arms. However, this strategy runs counter to the interests of major state-owned defense corporations as well as individual factories. Such a realignment of priorities could therefore generate domestic tensions.

Dr. Pavel Luzin is a researcher of Russia’s foreign policy and defense, space policy, and global security issues. Luzin is a visiting scholar at The Fletcher School and a contributor to the Foreign Policy Research Institute (USA), the Jamestown Foundation (USA), and Riddle (Intersection Foundation, Lithuania). In 2017–2018, he was a consultant on armed forces, law enforcement agencies, and defense industry issues for Alexei Navalny’s presidential campaign. In 2016–2018, he was a consultant on Russia’s domestic politics for the “Nations in Transit” project at Freedom House. In 2013–2014, Luzin was a research fellow at the IMEMO research institute in Russia. In 2013, he was an assistant to the editor-in-chief of the Security Index journal at PIR Center (Russia). Luzin was also a lecturer and senior lecturer at Perm State University (Russia) in 2010–2017, a senior lecturer at HSE (Perm campus, Russia) in 2011–2013, and a visiting assistant professor at HSE (Perm campus, Russia) in 2018–2019.

Refreshments will be served. The in-person event is open to the public. Please register via the Google Form here.