Foreign policy of the Kremlin prompted the United States to look otherwise on Russia.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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The End of Partnership
The U.S. Department of State has imposed sanctions against state-run companies of Russia, Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi, making clear the absolute dissatisfaction of Washington with the foreign policy of Moscow. The sanctions are the end of the epoch of Russia’s-the U.S. strategic partnership that has been declared until recently.
The sanctions against Russia’s main arms exporter Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi Aircraft Holding (as well as against two firms of India, two firms of North Korea and a Cuban company) took effect July 28, but the official statement was released on Friday, August 4, 2006. The formal reason was the breach of Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000, which bars from cooperating with it in the field of the mass destruction weapons.
The sanctions mean that, for two years, no state corporations of the United States will sell to or buy any goods of the penalized states and no private firms will deliver military and/or double-purpose product to them.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry rebuffed Saturday, calling the sanctions groundless and unfounded. “In reality, it is another illegal attempt to make foreign companies act under the domestic procedures of America,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The sanctions of this kind that the United States unilaterally applies against other states and their companies are the obvious political and legal anachronism, especially when such steps are made under the strained pretence.”
Indeed, assisting to Iran in making mass destruction weapons could be hardly blamed on the above two companies of Russia. At least, the contract of Rosoboronexport and Defense Ministry of Iran made in late July for repair and upgrade of 30 Su-24 front-line bombers couldn’t be regarded as such. It won’t be easy to refer bombers delivered to Tehran in early 1990’s to the aircraft carrying mass destruction weapons. But exactly this contract of $200 million, where Sukoi is the executor, was used as a pretext to impose the sanctions.
In effect, the United States attacked Moscow for another contract, said sources close to industrial and defense community of Russia. The real apple of discord was the recent contract for delivering 24 Su-30 jet fighters to Venezuela to replace the U.S. F-16 fighters there, which are left with no spares once Washington placed an embargo on selling weapons and military technology to that state of Latin America.
Russia didn’t confine to Su-30 actually. It entered into a raft of other contracts with Venezuela worth nearly $3 billion and ranging from delivery of around 100,000 Kalashnikov submachine guns to constructing a plant to manufacture them. Moscow has actually become one of the biggest exporters of weapons to Caracas.
To tell the truth, Washington attempted from time to time to persuade the Kremlin to withdraw from such deals, to no avail though. As the United States has no Venezuela’s Nonproliferation Act, it may refer to the Act on Iran, analysts of Russia’s special services warned the Kremlin and proved absolutely right in their forecasts.
In extent, the Saturday statement of the RF Foreign Ministry couldn’t be viewed as an adequate response to the United States. The Kremlin is bound to react to the blow, and it is yet unclear, whether it will attempt to minimize the damage to bilateral relations or punch back. The options for the last choice are not few and far between, ranging from the Schtokman negotiations to the purchase of 22 Boeing 787s worth up to $3 billion.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 07, 2006
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