Stung by severe western sanctions that have impacted payments for its weapons exports, Russia has slammed the US for ‘unfair competition’ and has said that the measures seek to put pressure on Indian sovereignty.

A top government official also said that the recent exemption from sanctions granted to India for the acquisition of Russian S 400 anti aircraft systems is a sign of American ‘weakness’. The official was commenting on an amendment approved by the US House of Representatives exempting India from the Countering America‘s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in July.

“Although earlier the American side regarded the contract concluded between Russia and India for the supply of S-400s as a violation of sanctions against Russian weapons. What caused the change in the position of the American side? I don’t know, but most likely, the reason is their weakness,” Dmitriy Sugaev, head of Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC).

While sanctions were imposed against Turkey for the acquisition of the same system, India has been granted a waiver and the US has said that reorienting the Indian foreign policy away from Russia is going to be a ‘long term proposition’.

Sugaev, who oversees all Russian exports to foreign nations, said that western sanctions amount to unfair trade practises and are an attempt to “violate the sovereign rights of independent states to ensure their own security”.

Questioned on how Kremlin is dealing with the sanctions, the Russian official said that new production and logistical chains are being established, without going into details of the process.

“Russian countermeasures against sanctions consist of a tailored approach to each of our customers, offering attractive conditions when concluding contracts, adjusting the payment forms and providing more flexible schemes, abandoning the dollar and switching to other currencies, including national ones,” Sugaev said.

He added that payments in US Dollar and Euro terms for arms export transactions have been ‘reduced to a minimum’.

As reported by ET, the western financial sanctions have made it difficult to process payments for weapons and spares purchases from Russia, although a new Rupee-Rouble exchange system has now been put in place. The ability of this system to process the entire quantum of payments India has to send to Moscow this year has not been fully tested yet.