Russia is trying to use it's opposition to the invasion of Iraq to expand it's arms sales. Nations that also opposed the invasion are being approached by Russian arms salesmen with attractive deals. Despite a reputation for battlefield inferiority to American weapons, Russia points out that their weapons are more likely to be used against local civilians or neighboring nations, not the United States. In the last six years, Russia has had some success with this approach. For example, between 1997 and 2000, Russia sold 350 tanks and 20 artillery pieces. In the same period, the US sold only  93 and 6 more expensive weapons. Same situation with helicopter gunships, where both nations sold 50, but the Russian ones were a lot cheaper.