US Levels Fresh Sanctions At Russia, Targetting Tech

The United States has imposed a fresh batch sanctions on Russia – increasing the focus on that country’s technology sector, as well as a couple of other industries.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Thursday it was imposing sanctions on 21 entities and 13 individuals, as part of its “crackdown on the Kremlin’s sanctions evasion networks and technology companies, which are instrumental to the Russian Federation’s war machine.”

Russia is already being subjected to wide ranging sanctions by the US and the international community for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, with the tech industry playing its part and pulled their services and products from the country.

US Treasury

“Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is continuing to impose severe costs on the Russian Federation for its unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine by targeting operators in the Russian technology sector to prevent it from evading unprecedented multilateral sanctions and procure critical western technology,” the announcement said.

The US Treasury also expanded its sanctions to include the aerospace, marine, and electronics sectors.

“Russia not only continues to violate the sovereignty of Ukraine with its unprovoked aggression but also has escalated its attacks striking civilians and population centers,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen.

“We will continue to target Putin’s war machine with sanctions from every angle, until this senseless war of choice is over,” said Yellen.

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Tech firms

The latest batch of sanctions also includes Mikron, which is Russia’s largest chipmaker and is its largest microelectronics manufacturer and exporter.

Indeed, Mikron exports more than 50 percent of Russian microelectronics.

Other Russian tech companies targetted include St Petersburg software and communications firm AO NII-Vektor; Moscow based hardware vendor T-Platforms; and Molecular Electronics Research Institute, a research institute that manufactures computers, search and navigation equipment.

This latest action comes after OFAC’s 24 March designation of dozens of companies in Russia’s defense-industrial base that are directly supporting Putin’s unjustified war against the people of Ukraine.

“Treasury took today’s action in close co-ordination with our partners who are similarly committed to ensuring the Russian Federation is not exploiting their jurisdictions for its destructive aims,” it said.

Additionally, the OFAC also said it is designating Russian government malicious cyber actors.

The United States will continue to hold Putin’s cyber actors accountable for destructive, disruptive or otherwise destabilising cyber activity targeting the United States and its allies and partners,2 said the OFAC.