USA informed governments and private companies of certain countries about a possible threat of sanctions, in the event of “significant deals” with Russian companies, included in the sanctions list.

“Putting pressure on Russia, Congress shows our concern about manifestations of aggressions towards Ukraine, interference in the internal affairs of other countries and human rights violations. Governments and private companies of other countries were informed that in the event of signing significant deals with Russian companies included in the list, sanctions may be imposed to them”, – Armenian newspaper “Haykakan Jamanak” was told in the U.S Embassy in Yerevan.

In December 2017, the President of Armenia Serge Sargsian signed a law on ratification of the agreement on the provision of the state export defense credit for $100 million to Armenia for the purchase of Russian arms. Before this, Russia provided the state export credit of $200 million to Armenia to finance the supplies of Russian armament.

 “If sanctions are imposed, they, mainly, concern non-Russian companies which had significant deals with military-intelligence services of Russia. The purpose of these sanctions is to make Russia feel the consequences of its actions. By limiting the opportunities of other countries to purchase military-intelligence equipment, we deprive Russia of the proceeds from the sale that can be used to continue the international campaign of negative influence and destabilization”, – is said in the message of the U.S Embassy.

In this regard, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia stated that this topic is within the purview of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Tigran Balayan, Press Secretary of Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in his turn, claimed, “Yerevan appreciates the cooperation with the partner countries”.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance of Armenia Vardan Aramyan told the newspaper that there is a real risk of sanctions.

 “USA has a big influence on the global economy and it is wrong to think that imposing sanctions they have to reckon with other countries. USA doesn’t reckon even with the European countries”, – he added.

According to V.Aramyan, in the event of problematic situation for Armenia, negotiations with American partners will be started.

“If such situation will take place, we have to sit down and talk, because a similar situation was because of the relations with Iran, when the country was under international sanctions. There are always risks”, – said the Head of the Armenian Ministry of Finance.