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Russian Tech Giant: US Sanctions Serve Military Industrial Complex

Russian Tech Giant: US Sanctions Serve Military Industrial Complex
folder_openRussia access_time5 years ago
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The new US sanctions are aimed at pushing Russia out of the international arms market, including those of Washington's allies, in the interest of the US arms industry, the Russian State Tech Corporation, Rostec, has said.

Russian Tech Giant: US Sanctions Serve Military Industrial Complex

The fact that Russia's top defense corporation, Rosoboronexport, has been targeted by the latest set of US restrictions has exposed "the real aim of these sanctions," a Rostec spokesperson told Russian media, adding that all Washington's accusations against Moscow were "just an excuse for pushing Russia out of the global arms market."

The Russian corporation denounced the US move as "unfair competition." Rosoboronexport, which is controlled by Rostec, is involved in trading of a wide range of military and dual-purpose products, technologies and services, and it controls most of Russia's arms exports.

On Friday, the US Treasury imposed a set of new measures against Moscow, which it accuses of "a range of malign activity around the globe." In total, 24 Russians and 14 entities were put on the list. Apart from Rosoboronexport, restrictions were also imposed on some major Russian energy companies, such as En+ or Eurosibenergo, as well as diversified industrial groups.

The sanctions also targeted several businessmen and high-ranking Russian officials, including Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and ex-FSB head Nikolay Patrushev.

Washington has threatened to sanction Russian defense sector entities for quite some time, amid projections that Russian arms exports were set to grow for the first time in five years. In October 2017, over thirty companies, including Rostec itself, were included in a list of potential sanctions targets.

The US also seems to be concerned by the fact that Russia is successfully penetrating the markets of Washington's close allies and major arms buyers, particularly in the Middle East. Russian armaments have attracted the attention of Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia.

However, Washington seems to believe that its position on the Middle Eastern arms market is becoming increasingly less secure, as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, states that rank among the top five US arms buyers, also demonstrated a keen interest in Russian arms.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have all sealed deals or are in negotiations with Russia to purchase military armaments.

Though, the competition between Moscow and Washington in arms trade extends far beyond the Middle East. India in particular is expected to buy S-400 systems from Russia at a time when the US is struggling to sell its own Patriot missile defense systems to New Delhi.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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