| Although Washington and Moscow constantly assure each other of “the transition to a new stage of partnership,” the relationship between the parties in the field of military-technical cooperation (MTC) still resembles the times of the Cold War. The paradox of the situation is that it is with the United States that Russian defense industry enterprises cooperate in key areas more effectively than with other Western partners. Suffice it to recall the contract between one of the leading domestic aerospace companies NPO Energomash and the American Lockheed Martin, under which the United States purchases RD-180 rocket engines from us. According to Energomash general designer Boris Katorgin, the Americans intend to purchase a total of 101 engines for about $1 billion: this will be one of the largest transactions in the Russian military-industrial complex.
Nevertheless, formally, the United States still appears on the “black list” of countries to which exports of Russian defense products are “not welcome.” More precisely, the United States never made it onto the Russian “white list” - the so-called list No. 2, the fundamental document determining which states are “allowed to transfer military products.” According to Russian legislation in the field of military-technical cooperation, this means that any contract in the military field with such a country requires the personal signature of Vladimir Putin. And no one else.
Sources of the Vremya Novostey newspaper from among Russian arms exporters explain this situation by saying that “there is still too much espionage in the American interest in our military-industrial complex.” And in this regard they are reminded of the “Pope case”, whose company tried to bypass Russian laws to gain access to the technology of the Shkval missile torpedoes, or the story of the attempt of ex-Deputy CIA Director Richard Stoltz to purchase secret components of the S-300B anti-aircraft missile system from the Mari Machine Plant.
However, the United States responds to Russia in this case with “full reciprocity.” American sanctions, once imposed due to unconfirmed suspicions of “unconventional cooperation” with Iran, continue to apply to a number of our military-industrial enterprises. This year, the United States again legislated restrictions on the supply of high-speed computers to Russia, once again classifying our country as a “potential distributor of sensitive goods and technologies.” Yuri GOLOTYUK
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