Russia Scraps Army 2027 Weapons Expo as Kremlin Scales Back Military Showpieces

Russia has canceled its flagship Army 2027 military-technical forum, a major exhibition used to showcase the country’s weapons and defense industry, in another sign that Moscow is scaling back high-profile military events amid its ongoing war against Ukraine. The forum was scheduled to take place in August 2027 in Kubinka, outside Moscow. It had been included in the government’s official list of international defense exhibitions for 2026–2027, but a new government order has removed it from the schedule, the state-run TASS news agency reported.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The cancellation follows an earlier decision by Russia’s Defense Ministry to scrap the 2025 edition, which was supposed to be held at Patriot Park near Moscow. The event was also excluded from the ministry’s military exhibition schedule for 2026. First held in 2015, the Army forum was promoted by the Defense Ministry as a major platform for showcasing advanced Russian military technology, weapons and developments from the country’s defense industry. For years, the exhibition ran for a full week and attracted foreign delegations, defense contractors and military officials. But its format had already been shrinking. In 2024, the program was cut to three days, with the ministry citing a greater focus on business activities and supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine. In 2025, the ministry went further, canceling public access and restricting attendance to industry specialists before ultimately scrapping the event altogether. Other Topics of Interest Moscow refuses to surrender its territorial ambitions, demanding Ukrainian land it has failed to capture while rejecting Western security guarantees. Shoigu family’s lucrative exhibition business The Army forum was also a lucrative business for people close to former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. An investigation by the Russian outlet The System found that Shoigu’s family had profited from organizing the exhibition for years. The event’s permanent operator since its launch was International Congresses and Exhibitions (MKB), a company closely linked to Shoigu’s wife, Irina Shoigu, and the former minister’s longtime associates. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, MKB’s annual revenue exceeded 1.5 billion rubles ($16 million). In 2024, despite Shoigu’s departure from the Defense Ministry, the company’s revenue climbed to 2.5 billion rubles ($27 million). Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.