Sanctions cannot affect the rate of arms production in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"It is just impossible to decrease our rate of development in this field," he said, adding "we will always find a way out of any situation."

US sanctions
On September 20, the US blacklisted 33 Russian individuals and entities associated with the country’s defense industry and intelligence agencies. The move was made in accordance with the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

According to a senior US Senior State Department official, Section 231 of CAATSA focuses "on those who engage in significant transactions with entities that appear" on the list, which now contains 72 names. It means that US can now sanction countries cooperating with Russia’s defense industry and intelligence agencies.