Russian IT companies that fell under US, EU and British sanctions in 2022-2024 TAdviser map

The sanctions lists of the United States, the EU and Britain for the specified period included organizations operating in different segments of IT and telecom - from software developers to manufacturers of data center equipment and services, both private and with state participation, large in terms of revenue and very small. Their cumulative number is much larger than presented in the infographic above. A significant share of sub-sanctioned organizations associated with IT are somehow related to the defense industry, including multiple research institutes.

I must say that the sanctions of Western countries for Russian companies, including IT, are not new: in recent Russian history, the United States introduced them until 2014. At first, it was mainly about export restrictions in the field of high technologies, which the United States explained by the interests of its national security and the interests of "international politics." So, for example, in March 2013, the United States banned the supply of electronic components and software to the Russian developer of T-Platforms supercomputers (declared bankrupt in 2022), including it in the export blacklist. At the end of the same year, the company achieved the exclusion of itself from there, but its case is not isolated: by the time the T-Platforms were included in the list, it already included some other electronics manufacturers from Russia.

Later, as the United States made new claims against Russia related to the annexation of Crimea, "election interference" and cyber attacks, Russian IT companies began to "fly in" more and more often, and sanctions became more and more severe. So, for example, the manufacturers of microelectronics "Angstrom" and "Micron," which after 2022 were imposed with new sanctions, fell under them. And in April 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on Russian IT companies, among which was Positive Technologies. The United States justified its actions against it with the support of Positive Technologies of Russian government agencies, including law enforcement agencies, and the organization of events at which representatives of law enforcement agencies were engaged in recruiting.

At the same time, some Russian companies were limited to work in Western markets without sanctions. For example, in 2017, the administration of the then US President Donald Trump excluded Kaspersky Lab from two lists of suppliers of high-tech equipment for state needs.

Since 2022, against the background of the conflict in Ukraine, sanctions activities have acquired a new scope, and targeted sanctions, including against Russian IT companies, have also begun to be actively introduced by the EU and Britain, although the United States remained the record holder in this regard. The bulk of companies fell under the most stringent, blocking US sanctions (Specially Designated Nationals List - SDN-list), which apply to all companies in which the direct or indirect share of a blocked organization exceeds 50%, even if they are not included in the SDN list. Their assets in the United States are blocked, and American persons are prohibited from taking part in transactions with these companies.

US sectoral sanctions SSI (Sectoral Sanctions Identifications) are measures that limit the execution of a number of transactions and transactions against companies from certain sectors of the economy. The property and property rights of the SSI list participants are not considered blocked.

The EU is less likely than the US to impose sanctions on individual companies. Their sanctions are more often focused on entire sectors of the economy, industry, etc. At the same time, against the background of Ukrainian events within the framework of the EU Council regulations, such as, for example, 833/2014 of July 31, 2014 "on restrictive measures in connection with the actions of Russia, destabilizing the situation on the territory of Ukraine " and 269/2014 of March 17, 2014 " on restrictive measures in relation to actions, undermining or jeopardizing the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, "implying a number of measures, including against specific companies. Among them are blocking funds and export restrictions. Britain adheres to similar tactics.

Against the background of geopolitical events since 2022, certain Russian IT companies have transferred their information policy to a "quieter than water, below grass" mode, so as not to be on the "black lists" either, but this did not help some in the end, and they still got there.

If you look at private IT companies, then at first under the most close sanctions attention were manufacturers of various radio-electronic products and information security developers, but then the wave also caught up with software manufacturers, integrators, distributors and data center service providers. Against a number of data centers that are not even related to the state, in particular, American sanctions were introduced in February 2024, and in May 2024, IBS, Lanit and the Astra group also fell under them.

In some cases, even before 2022, the company fell under US sanctions, and after 2022 also under EU or British sanctions. An example here is Infotecs and the already mentioned Positive Technologies.

There are also separate cases when the same company is twice included in the same sanctions list. So, for example, the company "SeaSoft Development" first got into the American SDN list in November 2023 and again the same - in early May 2024.

Most of the IT companies on the lists say that sanctions will not affect them or will affect them minimally. A number of representatives of IT market players surveyed by TAdviser who have come under sanctions believe that the lowest risks of sanctions are for software manufacturers and more serious risks for hardware manufacturers.

In my opinion, the greatest impact of the sanctions will be made on iron manufacturers, on companies that rely on foreign components when creating their products. At the same time, these sanctions will not affect the creators of software solutions. In addition, a strong influence will be on IT companies, which in recent years have been aimed at entering foreign markets of both friendly and unfriendly countries, - said Sergey Khalyapin, director of the Aladdin R.D. implementation and presale department, in a conversation with TAdviser.

The main business of Aladdin RD itself, which fell under US sanctions in early May 2024, is the production of key components for building a trusted and secure IT infrastructure, which includes software and PACS. The development of all its software is carried out within the Russian Federation by domestic developers, and all its key customers are within the Russian Federation. In unfriendly countries, the company does not do business at the moment.

Getting on the sanctions list should in no way affect our interaction with customers. The only limitation will potentially be the disappearance of the product - the Aladdin 2FA mobile audio identifier from international markets from Google and Apple. Fortunately, users will not lose the ability to download these applications from domestic application stores, incorrect work with PUSH notifications (only iOS) is possible, says Sergey Khalyapin.

At the same time, if we talk about the creation of PAC, hardware, then part of the element base is purchased abroad, it is necessary for the production of physical products, he added. In this case, the company will face the fact that the delivery time will increase, the cost of individual components will increase. Aladdin R.D. predicts a potentially rise in the cost of USB tokens by 10-15% due to the fact that the supply chain will objectively increase, during the purchase process there will be a conversion through several currencies.

ICL Group of Companies, whose legal entities fell under US sanctions in February 2024, says that the inclusion of their company in the US list is accepted as an inevitable part of the modern business environment.

We were ready for such a coincidence and took all necessary measures to minimize the negative consequences for our business, - said TAdviser in ICL Group. - After receiving the news, we communicated with all our Asian suppliers. The results of this communication made us understand that inclusion in the sanctions lists will not have a significant impact on our work and supplies. The only change is financial routes, which will not affect our activities in any way. Therefore, we continue to work on the strategy of localization of domestic products and its implementation.

As for the impact of sanctions on the cost of the company's products, ICL Group notes that the final cost is not determined by sanctions, but by the market: "If some products are not competitive and do not find sales, we do not produce them."

The Security Code, which was included in the SDN list in February 2024, has also been building its activities for several years in such a way as not to depend on any external factors, including sanctions, said TAdviser Fedor Dbar, commercial director of this company.

By the time the company was included in the SDN list, most of the components for our products were already produced in Russia, in addition, alternative supply chains were established in advance. So, despite the sanctions, the Security Code continues to fulfill its duties to customers in full, says Fyodor Dbar. - The sanctions could not and cannot affect the cost of the Security Code products, since our decisions are in the RAP register. This means that they have only minimal dependence on any Western components. In addition, as already noted, the company prepared in advance for the likely hit on the SDN list, so this event did not affect the final cost of products.

Most of all, sanctions can affect those companies that are highly dependent on foreign payments, or conduct active foreign economic activity, according to the Security Code. However, by and large, the company's profile plays the least role in the impact of sanctions. The fact is that if the sanction organization foresaw such an outcome and managed to prepare, then it can effectively continue its activities after being included in the SDN list. If the company did not work out alternative logistics routes, did not take care of reducing the share of foreign components in its decisions, then in this case the sanctions will become very painful.

See also

High-tech sanctions and restrictions against Russia