The United States has imposed sanctions on 13 organizations from Russia, Sudan, China, Venezuela, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, among them Rosoboron­export, Rus­sia's state arms exporter. The sanctions, which went into effect in August and were made public last week, will remain in force until Sept. 2010. The sanctions forbid any U.S. government agency to enter into an agreement with any of the listed organizations.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Dmitry Med­vedev both spoke out against the sanctions, which they termed illegal and unfair.

"Recently, the U.S. State Depart­ment implemented unilateral sanctions against Rosoboronexport," Medvedev said at Kremlin meeting with officials of a commission on defense and technology cooperation Tuesday. "We have repeatedly said that we consider these sanctions short-sighted. This is unfair competition, just an attempt to cut off suppliers. Most importantly, this decision will have little effect on us."

Earlier, Lavrov had blasted the sanctions, which he said "were introduced without any international legal foundation whatsoever." He stressed that "Russia will... take this into account in practical affairs and relations with the United States such as in trade and economic and other spheres."

Officially, the sanctions were made based on information that the parties involved had "engaged in activities that warrant imposition of measures" under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Non-Proliferation Act.

But Russian officials blamed the decision on arrogance. "All our trade and all of our military-technical cooperation with Iran is carried out in strict accordance with current international legal norms."

Rosoboronexport has flexed its muscles as an international arms exporter in recent years, with export figures rivaling that of the United States. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Insti­tute's rating, Rosoboronexport gros­sed $8 billion in exports this year alone, occupying second place after the United States, which grossed $12 billion. This rivalry may have served as a source of tensions. Russia has also bolstered its ties with the increasingly anti-American regime of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, with billions of dollars worth of arms sales in the last two years and a recent announcement to supply Venezuela with armored personnel carriers and multiple rocket launchers. Demonstrating its annoyance with Russian weapon sales to Venezuela, the United States had slapped sanctions against Ros­oboron­export and Sukhoi in 2006, purportedly over the latter's ties with Iran. It removed the sanctions several months later.

According to Sergei Karaganov, a former foreign policy advisor to the Presidential Administration who heads the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, the sanctions are not only illegal, they are also an outdated testament to a U.S. that is struggling with its foreign policy.

"These sanctions aren't just against Russia, but against tens of other countries, including U.S. partners," he told The Moscow News. "From the standpoint of international law, it is a completely illegal attempt to apply internal U.S. law on other countries. It is not new, of course, and illustrates that the United States are not ready to stop trying to impose their order on the rest of the world."

More importantly, Karaganov believes, is that the decision does not actually serve the interests of American companies. "There is hope that higher prices for some companies will mean that they will come for aid to the U.S. government," he said. "The last time sanctions were imposed, Russia did not make any concessions."

Instead, the sanctions will equally harm American companies and the Russian exporter. "It is clearly a political decision to put pressure on other countries when America feels that it is losing. We can only hope that international law and historic lessons will prevail and America will stop being convinced of its exceptionality."

На нашем форуме государственным языком является русский.
Раздел III п.13