Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday slammed as "short-sighted" US sanctions on Russia's main arms firm over the alleged sale of sensitive military technologies to Iran.

Rosoboronexport was one of 13 firms place on a US State Department's black list last week under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Non-Proliferation Act.

"It is unfair competition, simply an attempt to cut off suppliers," Medvedev was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

"We consider such sanctions as short-sighted," he added.

Medvedev said, however, that Russia will "practically not feel" the sanctions, which ban any US government body from doing business with the Russian company and have also targetted firms from China, Syria and Venezuela.

The United States says the sanctions are meant to punish the firms for sales that have "potential to make a material contribution to the development of weapons of mass destruction or cruise or ballistic missile systems."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday described the US move as "inadmissible" and warned the sanctions would affect talks between world powers on Iran's controversial nuclear programme.