Russia's Rostec doing brisk arms trades despite sanctions

Arms giant Rostec is seeing strong demand for its advanced anti-missile systems despite international sanctions against the Russian defence sector, chief executive Sergei Chemezov told AFP in an interview.

Chemezov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, is nonetheless also charting a course to increase sales of Rostec's non-military products.

Since Russia's intervention in Ukraine in 2014, the world's second-largest arms exporter after the United States has been hit by several rounds of sanctions by Washington and the European Union (EU).

Rostec and Chemezov himself have been specifically targeted.

"The sanctions are beneficial to US companies competing with us," the chief executive noted in an interview conducted via e-mail.

"At the same time, we are well aware of the negative attitude of many foreign companies, of our traditional foreign partners, to the sanctions."
"We cannot yet tell about future plans, however, despite the active propaganda of the United States against Russian armaments, there is demand for the S-400, and it is big."
"We are well aware that supplies of arms have boundaries and limits."