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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s arms exports totaled $14.5 billion last year, more than originally planned, Russian news agencies quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying on Tuesday.

The total portfolio of foreign orders for Russian arms has exceeded $56 billion, Putin told a meeting of the presidential commission on military-technical cooperation, which is a term used in Russia for arms exports.

He also said that the Defence Ministry had started preparations for demining of Syria’s city of Palmyra liberated from Islamic State militants.