Russia condemns US sanctions move

Russia has reacted with anger to the US state department's decision to impose sanctions on a Russian firm it says was selling military technology to Iran.

The US said on Thursday it had listed 13 global firms as allegedly supplying sensitive technology to Iran, Syria and North Korea, including Russia's Rosoboronexport firm, the nation's largest arms exporter.

"If some people in Washington think that such action could make Russia more complaisant to accept US approaches to settling the Iranian nuclear problem, they are mistaken," Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said at a news conference on Friday.

"These new sanctions were introduced without any international legal foundation whatsoever."

Sanctions were also imposed on firms from China, Sudan and Venezuela. A spokesman for Rosoboronexport said on Russian television that the US measures were "a case of unscrupulous competition," by the US and that the firm worked in line with all international agreements on arms control, Reuters reported.

Under the sanctions, which usually last two years, no US government agency may enter into any agreement with the organisations specified on the US list.

Lavrov said all of Russia's trade and military co-operation with Iran was carried out "in strict accordance with current international legal norms." More

"The United States introduced these sanctions without any basis in international law. We will take this into account in our relations with the United States," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.