The United States imposed additional restrictions on the supply to Russia of sensitive goods and technologies that meet the criteria of “nuclear,” “chemical and biological,” as well as “missile,” according to the American Export Control Regulations (EAR). This is stated in the document of the Bureau of Industry and Security of the United States (BIS, The Bureau of Industry and Security), which is subordinate to the Department of Commerce of the country. Restrictions will come into effect on February 24.
The new BIS act amends the country classification of the Export Control Rules, which transfer the Russian Federation from the category of states A, for which there is a more favorable regime, to group D - more stringent rules apply to it. So, according to the document, Russia is being transferred from segments A: 2 and A: 4 (numbers refer to types of technologies: 2 - missile, 4 - nuclear), which include most of the Western powers, to D: 2 and D: 4, where they are located countries of concern "about the proliferation of nuclear and missile technology."
In practice, new changes mean that for the export from the USA to Russia of goods and technologies that meet the criteria of “nuclear” as well as “rocket” (they mean equipment not only for cruise and ballistic missiles, but also for space launches, meteorological rockets and UAVs), now it will be required to obtain a special license.
“The exclusion of Russia from the country groups A: 2 and A: 4 means that it is no longer subject to a number of license exceptions, and products sent to Russia and previously covered by them are now subject to licensing,” the document says.
In addition, changes are made to the licensing policy itself. In particular, with respect to requests for issuing licenses for deliveries of nuclear, missile, and also chemical and biological technologies to the Russian Federation, a “presumption of refusal” is introduced. That is, the relevant applications are most likely to be rejected.
The new rules are introduced under the pretext that Moscow allegedly redirects products and technologies abroad that could contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), as well as to the growth of the military potential of states "of concern to the US national security."
Strange wording
According to experts, the restrictive measures introduced by the US Department of Commerce are demonstrative. According to analysts, they are called to emphasize the continuation of Washington’s course to strengthen the sanctions regime against Moscow.
“Americans have a ton of laws to restrict exports associated with weapons of mass destruction. They believe that Russia allegedly transfers rocket technology to Iran and Bashar al-Assad. But in fact, the US "concern" about the "leak" of WMD technologies is caused by the desire to put Russia on a par with "hooligan states" like the same Iran and North Korea, "the PIR Center chairman, general, explained in an interview with RT reserve lieutenant Evgeny Buzhinsky.
He also emphasized that Moscow had never engaged in the transfer of missile and nuclear technologies to any foreign countries.
In turn, the columnist for the magazine Arsenal of the Fatherland, Dmitry Drozdenko, noted the strangeness of the wording in the document, which relates to chemical and biological weapons.
“Russia does not have it, and it did not pass it on to anyone. Moreover, the Russian Federation has become an active participant in the process of chemical disarmament of Syria. But the United States has not yet fulfilled its obligations to get rid of the prohibited arsenal, ”RT Drozdenko said.
- US Chemical Weapons Destruction Plant
- © US Army
The expert recalled that Moscow is a signatory to the indefinite convention on the prohibition of bacteriological and toxin weapons (BTWC), and in September 2017, it fully implemented the chemical weapons disposal program. At the same time, the United States still retains part of the arsenal of toxic substances. It is assumed that work to eliminate them will be completed in 2023.
At the same time, the measures taken by the US Bureau of Industry and Security will not affect the development of the military-industrial complex (MIC) of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Buzhinsky is sure. He stressed that Russia has formed a "self-sufficient" nuclear missile industry, which does not depend on external trade and economic sanctions.
“Our enterprises engaged in the creation of nuclear and missile weapons have always been autonomous from the West and the USA. So it was during the Cold War and in the 1990s. Nothing has changed now. There are no such American components without which Russia could not produce equipment and ammunition for strategic forces. Therefore, American sanctions do not play any role here, ”Buzhinsky said.
Wellness effect
Since 2014, US official agencies have adopted several packages of sanctions against the Russian defense industry. The restrictions imply a ban on military-technical cooperation with Moscow and the supply of dual-use goods and services to the Russian Federation.
The United States sanctions list includes all the flagships of the domestic defense industry complex, including the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Almaz-Antey Concern JSC, Radioelectronic Technologies Concern (KRET) and Rostec Corporation ".
The last time the United States imposed sanctions in mid-February was under the American law on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, known under the acronym INKSNA (Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act), which prohibits any form of cooperation with Iran, North Korea and Syria on technologies that could potentially support weapons of mass destruction programs in these countries. Washington extended restrictive measures to three Russian companies: MIC NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Reutov), Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise (Bashkortostan), and Shipunov Design Bureau (Tula).
In addition, from 2006 to 2010, sanctions were imposed on Rosoboronexport, and then they were reintroduced in 2015, 2017 and 2018. In particular, in May 2018, the US State Department extended restrictive measures against the company on the basis that it also allegedly violates INKSNA.
At the same time, Washington did not specify what specific actions of Russian structures contradict INKSNA.
- Images of military equipment of the Almaz-Antey concern at the international arms exhibition IDEX-2019
- RIA News
- © Alexander Melnikov
The leaders of the Russian defense industry do not believe that American sanctions had any negative impact on the development of the industry. For example, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov has repeatedly said that Russian enterprises are virtually independent of foreign supplies, including from the United States.
Founder of the Military Russia portal Dmitry Kornev believes that domestic enterprises have demonstrated the ability to properly fulfill the state defense order and their export obligations under restrictive conditions.
“Sanctions have exposed certain weaknesses in our defense industry. However, we see that not one of the most important indicators crawled down. Of course, it has become more difficult for our enterprises, but nothing extraordinary has happened because of US and European sanctions, ”he said in an interview with RT.
At the same time, Kornev noted that, in general, the dependence of the Russian defense industry on American imports has never been critical, and with the launch of the import substitution program, the situation has improved.
A similar opinion is shared by Dmitry Drozdenko. According to him, Western restrictive measures to a greater extent had a healing effect on the defense industry. The expert recalled that a large-scale import substitution program was launched in the military industry of the Russian Federation, which quickly began to bear its first fruits.
“The problem of dependence on foreign components, of course, has not left the agenda, but its scale is objectively not the same as before. The sanctions did not prevent Russia from creating hypersonic weapons and continuing to improve the equipment in service. In 2020, the share of modern weapons in our army will reach 70%, ”concluded Drozdenko.