Kremlin officials and top Russian diplomats fumed over U.S. sanctions against Russian arms deals Wednesday, saying they were favoring U.S. defense contractors over Russian industry and represented an act of political bullying.
“[A]ll American ambassadors in all countries of the world without exception have strict instructions: to go and demand every day that certain states do not cooperate with Russia,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday. “That’s because the U.S. slapped sanctions on Russia. I think it’s enough to just hear this fact to understand on what principles the Americans build their relations with foreign countries.”
The sanctions were mandated by Congress for three reasons: to retaliate against Russia’s cyberattacks and leaks against the Democratic Party in the 2016 election cycle; to punish Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine; and to target Russia for supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad as he uses chemical weapons to win a civil war. The White House has been criticized for slow implementation of the sanctions law, which passed in August, but the State Department maintains that it is already having an effect.
“We believe somewhere north of $3 billion – we’ve been able to stop those transactions,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Tuesday. “Stopping transactions like that is, in effect, a punishment. Why? Because that means less money goes into Russian coffers. So that is considered a part of what we view as a success in holding Russia accountable.”
Her remarks provoked an array of outbursts from Russian officials. “No doubt, we are trying to hedge risks that arise due to the manifestations of unfair U.S. competition on the market of military and technical cooperation, and trade in special inventory worldwide,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. “Naturally, Russia will oppose these instances of dishonest competition.”
There’s more than revenue at stake, as arms deals can build closer military ties between two nations. U.S. officials are concerned, for instance, that NATO ally Turkey finalized a deal to purchase Russian anti-aircraft defenses. U.S. military officials worry that cooperation could lead to Russia understanding how to target the most advanced U.S. stealth fighter jets.
“[A]ll decisions taken on this contract strictly comply with our strategic interests,” Putin military adviser Vladimir Kozhin said in September. “For this reason, we fully understand the reactions of several Western countries which are trying to put pressure on Turkey.”
Russian and Turkish diplomats are emphasizing that the air defense deal was struck before the sanctions law passed. “We see a deliberate line towards impeding military and technical cooperation, and certain figures of allegedly disrupted contracts under the U.S. pressure are already named,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Wednesday.
