The Russian arms industry has lost more than $3 billion in failed weapons deals with third countries over the threat of U.S. sanctions, the State Department told reporters on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has held off on imposing sanctions on Russia’s intelligence and defense sectors mandated by legislation passed nearly unanimously by U.S. Congress last year, drawing criticism for failing to penalize Moscow. In January, the U.S. Treasury ratcheted up the pressure on Russia’s elite by publishing a list of 210 individuals tied to the Kremlin that could be the target of future sanctions.
According to The Moscow Times, a State Department spokeswoman said the agency was “pleased” that the threat of new sanctions had dissuaded some countries from buying “certain Russian materials and supplies.”
“Since the enactment of the CAATSA [the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act] legislation, we estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions. Given the long timeframes generally associated with major defense deals, the results of this effort are only beginning to become apparent. From that perspective, if the law is working, sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent,” Heather Nauert said at a daily briefing on Tuesday.
“We believe somewhere north of $3 billion — Stopping transactions like that are, in effect, a punishment,” she said.
Addressing accusations that Washington does not want to punish the Kremlin for election meddling, Nauert stressed that “comb[ing] through” companies that do business with Russia “will continue to take some time.”
