Упрощенная HTML-версия
Author : M. Yevtodyeva
Senior research associate, Head of the Group for Military and Economic Globalization Processes, Ye.M.
Primakov National Research Institute of the World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO),
Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Science (Political Science)
THE POLITICAL CRISIS in Ukraine that erupted in March 2014
sparked tensions between Russia and its Western partners, with the
United States and then the European Union imposing sanctions on
Russia that year.
Similar sanctions were imposed on Russia by allies of the United
States. These included Canada and Japan, which are members of
the Group of Seven (G7), Australia, New Zealand, and even the
poorest European country, Moldova. Ukraine also completely
banned its defense sector from having any dealings with Russia.
As a result, practically all of Russia's earlier defense and dual-use
technology contracts with European and American companies were
frozen and then severed.
The sanctions are unlikely to be lifted either in the short or in the medium term, because that would
run against the strategic interests of both the United States and the EU.
The sanctions brought to naught most of what had been achieved in the Russian defense industry's
cooperation with the defense sectors of Ukraine and NATO countries. Only individual agreements
survived. They had been signed long before the sanctions and included contracts with the United
States that remained in place as their annulment would have run very much against U.S. interests.
India sometimes accuses Russian companies of failing to properly meet their contractual commit-
ments. Moreover, Russian manufacturers face increasing competition in the Indian market because
of India's policy of diversifying its geography of weapons imports. Russia's military-technical co-
operation with India and China has reached the limit of its potential.
Russia also has obstacles to cooperating with Japan and South Korea, but those are obstacles of a
different kind - political. Both Japan and South Korea are strategic political and military partners of
the United States.
But even if the sanctions against the Russian defense industry are not lifted within the next few
years, they cannot close opportunities for limited or selective military-technical cooperation between
Western countries and Russia. Neither the United States nor the EU rules out that this scenario
might be realized. Even in 2014, the United States and some EU countries continued to meet their
commitments under some earlier contracts.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has made statements in support of the selective coop-
eration idea. After an EU foreign ministers' meeting in March 2016, she said that the EU should
take a tough line on Russia and keep the sanctions in force but that the foreign ministers "backed
selective engagement with Russia on foreign policy and other areas where there is a clear EU inter-
http://interaffairs.ru
The Western Dimension of Russia's Military-Technical Coopera-
tion: From Crisis to Regrouping