US Sanctions Are An Unfriendly Act Says Russian Arms Monopoly

MILPLEX

File image of a Russian missile.

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Aug 07, 2006
Russian state arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport said Monday that US sanctions against it were an "unfriendly act" aimed at undermining Russia's defence industry. "The introduction of sanctions should be seen as nothing other than an unfriendly act against the Russian state and an attempt at destabilising its defence cooperation with foreign countries," the company said in a statement.

Washington said last Friday that Rosoboronexport and jetmaker Sukhoi were subject to sanctions for providing Iran with equipment that could be used to develop missile systems or weapons of mass destruction.

The sanctions, which will remain in place for at least two years, were also imposed on two Indian companies, a Cuban entity and two North Korean firms, the US State Department said.

Commenting on the sanctions at a press conference in Moscow on Monday, Rosoboronexport's director Sergei Chemezov said: "It's a purely political move, an example of unfair competition," Interfax reported.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov also questioned Washington's rationale. "These sanctions don't have the slightest relation to non-proliferation," Ivanov said, Interfax reported.

Russia is a leading global arms exporter. President Vladimir Putin said Russia sold arms to 61 countries around the world in 2005, with contracts worth about six billion dollars (4.65 billion euros), a post-Soviet record.

A report published in June by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Russia and the United States were the world's top arms exporters between 2001 and 2005, with each controlling about 30 percent of the global market.

The US government has criticised Russia for arms sales to regimes considered unfriendly by Washington, particularly Iran, Syria and Venezuela. But Russia has insisted the sales are carried out with respect for international rules.

"Our cooperation with Iran... is carried out strictly in accordance with international agreements and is limited exclusively to supplies of defensive armaments," Rosoboronexport said.

"Such deliveries of arms and military technology to Iran are made by many foreign companies, including by partner countries of the United States in NATO," the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the statement added.

The sanctions could "have a negative effect on US-Russian partnership in countering illegal shipments of counterfeit Russian arms, particularly to Iraq and Afghanistan," it continued.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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