High-tech sanctions and restrictions against Russia

2024

The United States imposed sanctions against the Russian developer of face recognition technologies NtechLab

On December 11, 2024, the US Department of Commerce imposed export restrictions against the Russian company NtechLab. She specializes in developing solutions for video analytics based on artificial intelligence and biometric identification. Read more here.

Krasnoyarsk network of digital equipment "Technomax" fell under American sanctions

On November 1, 2024, it became known that the US Treasury Department included the Krasnoyarsk network of digital equipment stores Technomax in the updated sanctions list. The information was confirmed by the founder of the network Maxim Bagaev, noting that we are talking about a legal entity of the company that worked with corporate and state customers. Read more here.

OCS, Rosatom Digital Solutions and a number of other IT companies in Russia fell under US sanctions

On October 30, 2024 US Treasury , he published a new list of companies for which Russia-Related Designations blocking sanctions^[1] introduced^[2]In total, it has over 400 Russia citizens and legal entities associated with 400, and not only Russian, but also foreign ones - from,, and China Turkey others UAE. Among the sanctioned companies are those related to the IT industry. The Ministry of Finance classified them as companies associated with the military-industrial base#^[3]

For example, the sanctions list included "NPO Angstrem," noted by the US Ministry of Finance as the developer of "software for the Russian defense sector," the supplier of electronic components "Bastion EC," the manufacturer of electronic components "Elmak," the contract electronics collector "NTC Arsenal," the supplier and manufacturer of computers and equipment "iPiSi2Yu," Alexander Semiconductor Devices Plant LLC "Krip Techno," electronics manufacturer "FAB Dawn," etc.

The United States again imposed blocking sanctions on a number of Russian IT companies

The list includes O-CS-ES-Center, which the US Treasury included there as a state-cooperating supplier of IT products related to data storage and software. There is also a system integrator "Cinto."

Giant Computer Systems was added to the list for becoming a partner of ICL and Red Software, which were sanctioned earlier.

The Institute of System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences is located there. The US Treasury noted that this organization has previously sanctioned clients, such as the Security Code.

The list also includes the Chip and Deep electronic component store. In the message of the Ministry of Finance, he is listed as a manufacturer of "semiconductor modules and tantalum electrolytic capacitors" - components that are used in the defense sector.

Rosatom companies Rosatom Digital Solutions and Rosatom Microelectronics also fell under blocking sanctions.

Blocking sanctions, we recall, mean that all assets of legal entities under the jurisdiction of the United States are frozen, the leadership of these legal entities is prohibited from entering the United States, and US individuals and legal entities are prohibited from doing business with these organizations. Companies under sanctions will no longer be able to receive advanced US technology without a license, upon receipt of which the presumption of refusal applies. US sanctions also apply to subsidiaries of sanctioned companies. In addition, for cooperation with persons from such a list, you can fall under the so-called secondary sanctions.

New US IT sanctions against Russia came into force. How they will affect - TA opinions

On September 12, 2024, another package of US sanctions against began to operate. Russia They instruct companies from USA not to provide IT services, as well as cloud services to customers in Russia. TAdviser spoke with market participants to understand how the new restrictions will affect the work of Russian companies.

According to the document published by Management on control of foreign assets (OFAC) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the American technological companies it is forbidden now:

• provide IT consulting and design services;
• provide IT support and cloud services for the following categories of software - enterprise management software and design and production software.

New sanctions should not become critical for Russian business, since the level of development of Russian services has grown over the past two years, which allows using domestic developments without significant losses for business processes

Chief information officer" Sergey Lipov says that the ban imposed by the United States concerns IT consulting, covering services for strategic planning, IT implementation, business process optimization, as well as training and advice on the use of IT solutions. Most likely, any type of IT support is prohibited, whether remote or on the spot, including maintenance and troubleshooting of hardware and software problems, the expert said. As for cloud services, according to a spokesman for EdgeCenter, restrictions have been imposed on data storage, computing resources and platforms for developing and deploying applications such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.

The Product Manager K2 Cloud Alexander Fix notes that the ban applies to cloud access to enterprise management software (,, and ERP CRM) BI SCM and design and manufacturing software (s). CAD CAM

There is no open list of software subject to restrictions, so it is necessary to evaluate each specific product for compliance with the requirements of the regulator in the United States, said Anna Kuzyakina, deputy commercial director for product business development at Nota. According to her, the new restrictions apply to legal entities, but they can also affect ordinary users.

Following the US sanctions policy, a number of cloud services have already stopped working in the Russian Federation. Thus, the Miro online whiteboard platform disabled paid profiles of Russians, the developer of marketing software Hubspot blocked access to its services in the Russian Federation, and the Wix platform for creating and developing sites limited access to its services for Russians.

Computer-aided design (CAD) systems, CRM systems, corporate office software and business process management systems will be banned. Denis Korbakov, technical director of the Smart-Soft software manufacturer, in a conversation with TAdviser, suggested that the new package of sanctions could cause serious interruptions and even a shutdown of companies, and could also lead to loss of project data. According to the expert, businesses should take new restrictions seriously, conduct an inventory of corporate software and additional backup of significant business information.

Such a ban could lead to negative consequences for Russian companies, which ignored obvious signals indicating the need to switch to Russian software, to software from friendly countries, as well as to services provided by domestic companies. Of course, the unavailability of these companies will lead to restrictions on their capabilities in development and competition in the market, - believes Dmitry Parshin, Executive Director of ALMI Partner.

Maxim Zakharenko, CEO of cloud provider Cloud Computing, doubts that the sanctions will greatly change the current situation, since large cloud vendors have long limited support in Russia. In addition, OFAC issued General License No. 25D, according to which restrictions should not affect instant messengers, social networks, platforms for online training and video conferencing. Google Cloud and Workspace will continue to work, that is, the restrictions on ordinary Russians will practically not affect, Zakharenko emphasized.

Andrey Malov, Product Director of TransTeleCom Regional, believes that the shutdown will primarily affect SaaS services, which are popular among small companies. But large corporations will not feel the sanctions, because they have moved to other platforms a long time ago, said the interlocutor of TAdviser.

All TAdviser respondents pay attention to the blurred wording of sanctions, which can be interpreted in different ways. Artem Maksimenko, senior manager of the strategic consulting practice of the NEO consulting company, having studied the OFAC documents, suggested that with a high degree of probability we are talking about restrictions on software that supports the life cycle of companies and business process management: customer relationship management systems, Task trackers, plaftorms for project management, development, etc.

According to the commercial director of ARintegDmitry Slobodenyuk, the new sanctions will only accelerate the process of Russia's transition to domestic IT solutions.

As recent events with the blocking of cloud accounts by the American developer Autodesk (the owner of AutoCAD) have shown, our engineers, designers are used to working in AutoCAD and were in no hurry to switch to other solutions. As a result, they at one point lost access to the Autodesk BIM 360 cloud solution, and with it their design documentation. Of course, it is difficult to rebuild, but it is also wrong to cling to the last for decisions, access to which can be blocked at any time, - said Slobodenyuk.

Ideco director Dmitry Khomutov admits that after the entry into force of US sanctions, some enterprises will continue to purchase foreign CRM systems and cloud storage according to gray schemes. But the share of such purchases is declining, and the share of foreign cloud solutions continues to decline in the Russian public sector - already 80% of organizations have switched to domestic platforms, he added.

DCLogic CEO Yevgeny Shelestyuk agrees that the new sanctions can become a catalyst for the development of the domestic IT sector and stimulate the search for new technological solutions. There are already mature domestic solutions that can replace products of foreign brands, he stressed.

The United States imposed sanctions against the Dialogue ANO, which is developing digital projects

In early September 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department (OFAC) imposed sanctions against Dialogue ANO and its general director Vladimir Tabak. Read more here.

US imposed sanctions against the developer of the Golden Crown payment system

On August 23, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as part of the US Treasury Department, published a new list of specially designated citizens and blocked persons (SDN). This sanctions list includes, among others, the Center for Financial Technologies, a software developer for the Russian Golden Crown payment system, which provides services to individuals, banks and organizations. Read more here

US imposed sanctions against Russian IT companies Atol, Diasoft and CFT

On August 23, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as part of the US Treasury Department, unveiled a new list of specially designated citizens and blocked persons (SDN). We are talking about sanctions imposed on Russian individuals and legal entities in connection with the emerging geopolitical situation.

The list includes companies that provide software and IT solutions for the financial and other sectors of the Russian Federation. In particular, sanctions were imposed against Diasoft LLC: this Russian company is developing software on a completely import-independent technological stack. It is noted that Diasoft does not conduct project activities and does not sell products in the United States and the European Union. The key task of the company is to help Russian customers in import substitution of software. Diasoft states that the imposition of sanctions will not have a fundamental impact on activities.

The United States announced the imposition of sanctions against the Russian IT companies Atol, Diasoft and CFT

The main business of the company in Russia. Most of our customers are already under sanctions. And we understood that this inevitably had to happen. Therefore, this cannot have a fundamental impact on our business. We do not need to take any measures, - says the general director of Diasoft Alexander Glazkov.

In addition, the company, "Atol" which supplies equipment ON for the automation of trade, fell under the sanctions. Restrictive measures have been introduced against a company Financial Technology Center (CFT) providing a set of banking and payment solutions. The SDN list also includes one of the operator structures (MTS included in "") - AFK Sistema a service developer. MTS RED Cybersecurity In addition, the list includes and, AIRI Institute of Artificial Intelligence Institute of Artificial Intelligence Problems FIC IU RAS as well as developers of software and hardware complexes for monitoring and analyzing data,,, etc. "Kribrum" PalitrumLab Execution RDC ^[4]

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

In 2022-2024 hundreds of Russian organizations, including a number of IT companies, fell under the sanctions of Western countries. TAdviser studied the extensive sanctions lists for the specified period, chose companies operating in various segments of the IT market, and presented them on infographics. See here.

Map of sub-sanctioned IT companies. Click to enlarge

The United States imposed a ban on the provision of IT consulting services and a number of cloud services in Russia

On June 12, 2024, the United States significantly expanded sanctions against Russia, introducing new restrictions that affect, among other things, IT services and cloud services. In particular, the US Treasury Department, with the participation of the State Department, issued a new definition (E.O.) 14071^[5], which prohibits the provision of any person in the Russian Federation:

• IT consulting and design services;
• IT Support Services and Cloud Services for Enterprise Management and Design and Manufacturing Software.

The decision will come into force on September 12, 2024.

For the new ban, there are a number of exceptions: for example, it does not apply to organizations in the Russian Federation that are directly or indirectly owned by US citizens.

A press release from the US Treasury said that by this decision the authorities took measures to restrict the access of the Russian military-industrial base to certain types of software and IT services^[6].

It also states that, despite the new bans, OFAC continues to maintain permits for certain telecommunications and Internet-related operations, as well as humanitarian operations. According to the US Treasury, OFAC seeks to mitigate the impact on Russian society and protect universal access to ICT by maintaining these permits.

Collectively, the new US sanctions list includes about 300 individuals and legal entities from Russia, including the Moscow Exchange, the National Clearing Center and the National Settlement Depository, as well as persons from China, Belarus, South Africa and other countries, which, according to the US Treasury and the State Department, help Moscow bypass previously imposed restrictions. Companies from the ICT sector are also on the list. Among them are Citronics KT, Geoskan, MicroEM, NPO Poisk, Central Research Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics, etc.

Russian software developer Orion soft fell under US sanctions and assessed this as an achievement

On May 1, 2024, the Russian developer POOrion soft came under blocking US sanctions. This was reported to TAdviser on May 3, 2024 by representatives of Orion soft. Read more here.

The United States imposed sanctions against the Astra group, integrators IBS and Lanit

On May 1, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the US Treasury Department, announced new sanctions on Russian IT companies. The list includes, among other things, integrators IBS and Lanit, as well as the Astra group.

Within the IBS group, IBS Expertise, IBS Soft, IBS Infinisoft and IBS IT Services are included in the sanctions list.

US imposed sanctions against Russian IT companies - Astra Group and IBS structures

Under the sanctions was the system integrator "Lanit," as well as, SiSoft Development (CSoft) which is a developer software for the market. CAD Its clients include,,,,,, Gazprom RUSSIAN RAILWAYTransneftRosneft and. In ALROSA Rostechinventarization turn, the Astra group, which was under sanctions, includes structures such as (RusBITech-Astra developer of Astra) operating system , (Linux "Rubecap" developer of a data backup and recovery system), (RuBackup developer "Rupost" of a Russian mail server for organizations), etc. RuPost

In addition, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions restrictions against developers of cybersecurity solutions Aladdin (Aladdin R.D.) and Secret Technologies (Sikret Technologies LLC), as well as the developer of means of digitizing documents of ELAR Corporation (Electronic Archive LLC). The sanctions affected the subsidiary of the Protei Scientific and Technical Center - Protei SpetsTekhnika LLC: this structure is engaged in the development of communication systems and integrated security^[7]

The reasons for including Russian technology companies in the sanctions list vary depending on the direction of activity: for the Astra group, this is indirect participation in the development of an operating system for the needs of the Russian defense industry, for IBS, participation in digitalization of Rostec state corporation and other companies from the public sector.

The Astra group told Interfax that the sanctions would not affect business operations. The fact is that the company does not consider the countries of the European Union and the United States as directions for foreign expansion. Astra is developing a technological stack of Russian software that can replace Western solutions in the Russian market and the market of friendly countries.

Our team works in Russia. Our developments are based domestically. We do not use a single proprietary component, we are developing our own repository, and all our technological processes are completely independent of other jurisdictions, the Astra group[8]

The United States imposed maximum sanctions against the Russian platforms of digital financial assets Atomais and Lighthouse

At the end of March 2024, the United States imposed maximum sanctions against the Russian platforms for digital financial assets Atomais and Lighthouse. These companies are listed on the SDN List (Specially Designated Nationals List), whose members are blocked from all assets located in the United States. In addition, being included in this black list implies a ban on American persons from any interaction with sanctioned persons, including receiving funds, goods or services from such persons and providing them or in their interests. Read more here.

The sanctions brought down the release of a critical chip for compulsory medical insurance policies. How Micron rebuilt production

The court materials on the claim of NTC Atlas against Micron, published in the Electronic Justice system, provide details of the suspension in 2022 of the production of a unique MIK51AB72R chip, which is a key element of the plastic compulsory health insurance policy (compulsory medical insurance) and is issued only on Micron. In particular, the ruling of the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal, issued in February 2024, states that the contract with NTC Atlas for the supply of microcircuits was concluded in November 2021, but in connection with the foreign sanctions imposed on Micron, the contract was only partially implemented - 1.2 million microcircuits were delivered to the customer . More

Inclusion of Red Soft in the next US sanctions list

On February 26, 2024, Red Soft announced that inclusion in the next US sanctions list would not affect its activities. Read more here.

US imposed maximum sanctions against GPB-IT1

At the end of February 2024, the United States imposed maximum sanctions against GPB-IT1 (IT-subsidiary of Gazprombank) and the developer of banking applications Financial Information Systems (FIS). Both companies were included in the SDN list, with which US residents cannot do business or make any transactions (both cash and no cash). Read more here.

US imposed sanctions on Russian data centers

On February 23, 2024, the United States imposed blocking sanctions on several Russian technology companies, including data center operators. So, under the restrictions fell:

• 3data (5.9 thousand racks in data centers, according to analysts at iKS-Consulting);
• Oxygen (1.7 thousand racks);
• "Miran" (561 posts);
• SafeData (21.4 thousand racks; operates under the brand under the Rostelecom-Data Rostelecom DPC brand);
• TrustInfo (1.2 thousand racks)
• regional data processing center of InfoTech Balakovo LLC (contractor for the construction of the Sberbank data center );
• Stack Telecom (1.4 thousand racks).

The US Treasury has included in the new sanctions list the largest Russian data center providers

As Kommersant notes, previously large-scale sanctions against Russian data center operators were not introduced. For the market participants themselves, the inclusion of data centers in the lists of US sanctions came as a surprise. Many of the companies purchase Western server equipment and software licenses, provide hosting services, but now they may lose contracts with foreign partners and the opportunity to receive the telecommunications equipment they need for development directly from foreign manufacturers.

The purchase will be complicated, among other things, due to the ban on making settlements in dollars. Either the data center operators will have to look for more expensive methods of supply or alternatives that are not comparable in characteristics , "said Kira Vinokurova, partner of the Pen & Paper Bar Association.

He also allowed the refusal of foreign partners to cooperate with hosting providers that fell under sanctions. According to Stanislav Mirin, a leading consultant at iKS-Consulting, the sanctions list was drawn up based on the contracts of these commercial data centers with some sub-sanctioned enterprises of the military-industrial complex. The consequences of sanctions can be the closure of the market and changes in the procedures for holding tenders, the expert believes.^[9]

Alexander Bespalov, director of the new product development department of Energon, believes that the inclusion of data center providers in the sanctions lists complicates their operational activities for the purchase of equipment, software and services, the production of which is located in the territories of both unfriendly and friendly countries, since for suppliers there is a risk of imposing secondary sanctions. This will result in a possible change in equipment and software manufacturers, and this will definitely affect the timing and cost of supplies, which is likely to increase the payback period for data center construction projects. In general, for data centers listed in the sanctions lists, this may have a slight impact due to the fact that equipment and software purchases are organized through relevant suppliers who are able to overcome sanctions difficulties.

The current experience of existence in the sanction reality convinces us that any type of equipment can be replaced by analogues when providing the proper level of technical expertise in the process of adapting the solution. In this regard, any change has an impact only within the framework of the financial and time indicators of the project, says a representative of Energon.

Data centers rarely organize direct purchases of equipment as part of new construction or expansion projects and for this they work with large integrators and suppliers who can overcome sanctions difficulties by providing the necessary solutions, added Alexander Bespalov.

Japan banned the export of software-controlled machines to Russia

In February 2024, Japan banned the export of numerical control (CNC) machines to Russia. The corresponding document is published on the website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan.

According to TASS with reference to this document, those included in the updated list of sanctioned goods that Japanese companies are prohibited from supplying to the Russian Federation can allegedly be used for military purposes. The Japanese authorities urged with caution to supply these products to third countries. The sanctions list includes:

• electronic components such as integrated circuits, communication equipment;
• electronic (diodes, transistors, digital cameras) and optical equipment;
• goods for the design and production of electronic components - semiconductors;
• machining centers, horizontal and other turning machines, as well as CNC milling machines.

Japan banned the export of numerical control machines to Russia

In the updated list of goods prohibited for deliveries from Japan to Russia, by February 22, 2024, there are about 50 positions.

The Japanese government recommended that exporters refer to this list when supplying to third countries and determine the final country of delivery and the final recipient of goods. Japan analyzes what weapons Russia uses during the military special operation of Russia in Ukraine, in this regard, the country can expand the list, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan said in a statement.

At the end of January 2024, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that Tokyo is ready to conclude a peace treaty with Russia, but at the same time, the country, according to the head of the Japanese government, will continue to adhere to the policy of anti-Russian sanctions. Russia has repeatedly stated that sanctions against Moscow are ineffective and will not change Russia's position.^[10]

2023

Russian enterprises will take away licenses for foreign CAD - due to new EU sanctions

On December 18, 2023, the EU Council adopted the 12th package of sanctions against Russia. One of the bans concerns the supply of software for enterprise management, as well as for industrial design and production.

As Verba Legal advisor Ekaterina Tretyakova explained to Kommersant, a wide range of decisions fall under the wording of the sanctions documents. In particular, we are talking about Autodesk products (including AutoCAD), SolidWorks, SAP, Oracle and Microsoft, the publication notes, adding that the new restrictions mean the termination of even those licenses that were purchased for several years in advance.

According to experts interviewed by the publication, mainly large companies began to abandon foreign CAD and ERP in Russia, while medium and small companies most often continue to use foreign solutions. The interlocutors of the newspaper also noted that "foreign companies that were transferred to Russian management" suffer more than others in this regard, since in such organizations all work was previously "built on foreign software."

Many organizations implemented their projects in Autodesk or other foreign CAD, so support is forced to continue, otherwise everything will have to be developed from scratch, "Alexei Smirnov, head of the board of directors of BASEALT, told Kommersant.

He estimated at 30% the share of domestic engineering software in the Russian market. According to Smirnov, many Russian companies have purchased licenses for foreign software for a long time. The sanctions imposed by Europe on the sale of industrial software may be aimed at hindering the supply of software and support for parallel imports, Smirnov said.

NSP lawyer Gleb Boyko, in a conversation with the newspaper, noted that the sanctions mean stopping work with Russian counterparties, even if the software license has not yet expired. However, in his opinion, the EU will establish a transition period to complete the interaction, and will also establish a number of exceptions.^[11]

US imposed sanctions against 10 citizens and companies for exporting electronics to Russia

On November 7, 2023, the Bureau of Industry and Security of the US Department of Commerce announced the imposition of sanctions against seven individuals and three companies that, according to the American authorities, are involved in the illegal export of military electronics to Russia. Read more here.

US imposed sanctions against Ascona and SiSoft

On November 2, 2023, the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security updated the list of individuals and companies that are under sanctions. This time, it also included high-tech companies in Russia, suppliers of radioelectronic equipment and developers of engineering software. In particular, the list included MSTU named after Bauman, the company "ASCON," which developed a domestic geometric core, as well as the developer of CAD "SiSoft Development." Other domestic companies that develop complex software solutions can also be found in the list: P.I. Baranov Central Institute of Aviation Engine Engineering (CIAM), AFK Sistema, NTC Gazprom-Neft, Basis-Center and JSC NPO MCM. All of them are engaged in complex engineering projects and industrial software development.

The key player in the engineering market is the St. Petersburg company ASCON, which has developed a domestic geometric core of C3D. On its basis, both CAD of the company itself under the name "Compass-3D" and some other engineering developments were built. The technologies of this company are key in the domestic engineering industry and, in general, the domestic industry. It is with the help of ASCON software that the most complex technological products are now being developed.

No less important for the domestic industry is SiSoft Development, which develops such engineering software and technologies as: CAD, BIM, PLM, comprehensive solutions for mechanical engineering, industrial and civil engineering, architectural design, land management, electronic document management, processing scanned drawings, vectorization and hybrid editing. In particular, the company's portfolio includes TechnologiCS CAD, which is designed for automation and information support of production preparation, production planning and operational management processes in the company, as well as PolygonSoft, a tool for a foundry technologist. Interestingly, another company from the list, JSC NPO MCM, also specializes in software development in the field of modeling foundry processes.

In addition, the engineering teams themselves from the Moscow State Technical University named after Bauman, NTC Gazprom-Neft, TsIAM fell under the sanctions. Some of them, most likely, still use foreign software when working on their projects, and they will have a serious reason to abandon it and become more actively involved in the process of switching to modern domestic developments. Also, the sanctions also affected suppliers of electronic components, such as Cybercom, FREGAT and Baltelectron. Some domestic manufacturers of electronic components of Optron JSC and the Center for Innovative Technologies and Engineering also fell under the sanctions of the Americans.

True, three companies were excluded from the list from the Saturn UEC association, which oversees the Motorelestroenie IC and is engaged in improving application software for creating and modeling various engines. Moreover, UEC Saturn, within the framework of this industry center of competence, is conducting one of the significant industry projects for import substitution of Siemens developments for solutions from Ascona.

US imposes sanctions on Russian drone manufacturers

On November 2, 2023, the Bureau United States Department of Commerce drones Lancet of Industry and Safety blacklisted Aeroscan (manufacturer of ZALA Aero), whose participants are subject to export restrictions in connection with their activities harmful to safety. USA In total, 12 companies from Russia and one from fell under the sanctions. Uzbekistan More. here

Rostelecom-Solar, Craft Way and Technopolice Moscow fell under US sanctions

Rostelecom-Solar, Craftway and Technopolice Moscow fell under US sanctions. The corresponding message from the US Treasury Department was released on September 14, 2023.

The department said that the sanctions are aimed at organizations and individuals who contribute or are trying to help Russia purchase high-tech and dual-use goods. The new restrictions of the US Treasury provide for the freezing of assets of companies from the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), enterprises and affiliates with them, the introduction of a complete ban for citizens and companies from the United States to do business with it. Restrictive sanctions measures imply a complete blocking of the company's assets and transactions under the sanctions of the US Treasury.

By mid-September 2023, Rostelecom-Solar operates under Rostelecom-Solar/RT-Solar brands and is Rostelecom's information security division. Simultaneously with the introduction of sanctions, the company rebranded and began to call itself simply "Solar."

The press service of Rostelecom-Solar told Interfax on September 14, 2023 that the sanctions would not affect the company's activities.

To date, all Solar solutions and technologies have been imported. Therefore, the decision will not affect the operating activities of the company. "Solar 'will continue to operate normally," the company said.

In April 2023, the US president extended for a year the executive decree suggesting the possibility of introducing new sanctions on Russia. The restrictions provide for the blocking of property and assets in the United States. Among the possible reasons for their introduction, in particular, are "undermining the holding of free and democratic elections in the United States, as well as among their allies and partners," "malicious actions in the cyber sphere," "encouraging and using transnational corruption to influence foreign governments."^[12]

Google began to massively block Workspace services for Russian companies under US sanctions

Google Corporation on the night of August 10, 2023 began to massively block corporate services Google Workspace (corporate mail, Google Documents, Google Disk, etc.) for a number of Russian companies that fell under American sanctions. More on this here.

EU imposes sanctions on Positive Technologies

On June 23, 2023, the European Union published a sanctions list as part of the 11th package. Positive Technologies, which has also been under US sanctions since 2021, fell under the new sanctions. The document was published in the official EU journal and entered into force. Read more here.

Another 30 manufacturers and suppliers of electronics fell under US sanctions against Russia

On May 19, 2023, it became known that the US Treasury Department included in the sanctions list about 30 importing companies and electronics manufacturers that supplied goods to Russia or were engaged in their production on Russian territory. Such information is published on the website of the American department.

In particular, the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) list USA included: EuroMicroTech LLC (manufacturer of electronic components), Phoenix Electronics (supplier of foreign-made electronic components), JSC "" JSC "Proton"(manufacturer of optoelectronic equipment), Target Electronics (manufacturer of electronics), LLC "" Inelso(supplier of electronic components the European the Asian and production), LLC "Avesto" (manufacturer and supplier of electronics), LLC "," Elitan Trade NPO "" (Android Technology developer of robot ""), Fyodor LLC "SMT-Aylogik LLC" (engaged in the development and assembly of boards "PromELSON," component DKO ElectronshchikSymmetron Electronic Components)

In addition, Anton Efimov, the owner of Avesto and Inelso, was included in the sanctions list of the American department. He also owns the Estonian company OU Elfaro, which was previously called OU Inelso^[13].

Expanding US IT sanctions

At the end of February 2023, the US Department of Commerce expanded the list of electronic goods that are prohibited from being supplied to the Russian market. Under export restrictions, among other things, smartphones and printers were more expensive than $300, as well as routers, base stations, telephone equipment and modems more expensive than a specific amount for each group.

In the segment of household appliances, the United States has limited the import of refrigerators and air conditioners into Russia more expensive than $750, vacuum cleaners and electronic scales costing from $100. In total, the updated black list includes 276 items, including SSDs, video cameras, microchips of various types, fans (wall, floor, for roofs), dishwashers, microwave ovens for home use, household coffee machines, electric toasters, recording and sound reproduction equipment.

The delivery of goods to Russia from the expanded list of export bans requires a license from the American exporter or foreign re-exporter from the regulator, which will generally be refused (with the exception of possible one-time permits for humanitarian purposes or to foreign companies leaving Russia). Identical restrictions apply to Belarus.

U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in February 2023 that Russia was "extracting semiconductors from products such as refrigerators and microwave ovens to be installed in military equipment."

The US Department of Commerce also included 76 Russian companies in the sanctions list for supporting the Russian military-industrial complex, including the Skolkovo Foundation, Skoltech, Kamaz, etc. The agency has tightened export control rules for Russia and Belarus - restrictions affect the metallurgical, aviation and nuclear industries, as well as the construction of heavy construction equipment and electrical equipment.^[14]

2022

Roselectronics and Kraftway fell under US sanctions

In December 2022, the US Department of Commerce expanded the list of Russian companies against which sanctions are imposed. In particular, the Roselectronics holding and the Kraftway computer equipment manufacturer fell under restrictions. Read more here.

The UK has banned the provision of IT consulting services to Russian persons

Great Britain introduced the next sanctions against Russia. They were a response to the ongoing special military operation (SVO) on the territory of Russia and the inclusion of four Ukrainian regions in Russia. This became known on October 4, 2022.

As stated in the message of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, a ban is introduced on the provision of Russian persons services in the field of IT consulting, architectural, advertising and engineering services, as well as services in the field of audit and legal advice. According to the UK, Russia receives 67% of these services from countries that have imposed sanctions against it.

In the UK as a whole, three of the world's four major audit firms are registered: Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte. The fourth major audit company, KPMG, is registered in the Netherlands.

With the beginning of the SVO, all the aforementioned audit companies have already left Russia, having placed their Russian offices under the control of local management. Thus, the Russian office of Ernst & Young became known as " B1," PricewaterhouseCoopers - "Trust Technology," Deloitte - "Business Solutions and Technologies," KPMG - Kept.

The international consulting company Accenture (its headquarters is registered in Ireland) also left Russia. Her Russian office was also taken over by local management and was renamed "Axtim" and later Axenix.

US bans export and sale of quantum computing services to Russia

On September 15, 2022, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions on the Russian technology sector. This time, the package included a ban on the provision of services in the field of quantum computing. The restrictions will take effect on October 15, 2022. Read more here.

Russian developers of microelectronics and computer technology were again sanctioned

On September 15, 2022, the US Treasury once again updated the Russian segment of the sanctions list, including dozens of individuals and legal entities^[15]. Among them are companies related to the development and production of microelectronics and computer technology.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in particular, included in the SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) list such companies as Baikal Electronics, ICST, SPC, Multiclet, Angstrom, Yadro Fab Dubna (a full-cycle plant for the production of computer equipment and telecom equipment), manufacturer of computer technology "Aquarius," International Center for Quantum Technologies.

In addition, the list included a number of research centers in the field of physics, semiconductors and quantum technologies, in particular, the Physical and Technological Institute named after K. A. Valiev RAS, the Physical and Technical Institute named after A.F. Ioffe RAS, Physical Institute named after P.N. Lebedev RAS, Institute of Spectroscopy RAS, etc.

Inclusion in the SDN list involves blocking assets and isolation from the dollar system. At the same time, any enterprise, half of which is directly or indirectly owned by the subject included in the SDN, is also automatically considered to be included in this list.

Russian developers of microelectronics "Baikal Electronics," MCST, "Elvis" in March 2022 already fell under US sanctions. Then the Americans obliged foreign counterparties to coordinate with the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Department of Commerce all deliveries to these companies of any products produced using American technologies. At the same time, the US authorities will adhere to the "policy of refusal."

In addition, in March, the European Union imposed sanctions on Russian chipmakers. And in May, the ICST and Baikal Electronics fell under British sanctions: in addition to freezing assets, British sanctions imply restrictions on the provision of technological services.

Some other companies from the new SDN list have already been under certain sanctions. For example, Angstrom enterprises. Their US in 2016 was included in the sanctions list, compiled to punish Russia for the annexation of Crimea, and restricting the export of technology to sanctions enterprises.

Ministry of Industry and Trade: parallel imports to the Russian Federation will be extended for next year

The head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia Denis Manturov in early September 2022 announced that the parallel import mechanism would be extended until 2023. As he clarified, the corresponding decision has already been prepared.

"Let's proceed from the fact that we are talking about an extension for 2023, and there it will be," the minister said.

At the same time, according to him, the authorities are interested in Russian enterprises occupying a niche in the domestic market. In early May, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia published a list of more than 50 categories of goods that are available for parallel imports.^[16]

The State Duma adopted a bill banning the dissemination of "counter-sanctions information"

State Duma deputies on June 6, 2022 adopted in the third reading a law that introduces the concept of "counter-sanction information" into legislation. The amendment was initiated by a group of deputies in order to reduce the risks of new restrictions in a confrontation with "unfriendly" countries.

According to the document, counter-sanction information refers to information of any nature about completed and planned transactions in the field of foreign trade in services, goods, information or intellectual property. The law is supposed to limit the dissemination of such information among an indefinite circle of people, including using the media and the Internet.

The dissemination of counter-sanction information is allowed only with the written consent of its owner - a Russian individual or legal entity participating in the Foreign Economic Activity Agency that has committed or plans to complete a transaction - is specified in the document.

At the same time, the requirement to obtain appropriate consent does not apply to the heads and authorized representatives of state authorities or local self-government, as well as representatives of the Central Bank (Central Bank) of Russia, the State Duma^[17]

Restrictions will terminate from the date of dissemination of counter-sanction information by the Foreign Economic Activity participant himself or posting on his website a message about the termination of the restriction on the dissemination of counter-sanction information in relation to certain information without disclosing their content. Also, the restriction is removed if the information was announced by representatives of state power, the chairman of the Central Bank and his deputies.

The dissemination of counter-sanctions information in violation of the requirements established by this article entails liability in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, provided for the disclosure of information with limited access, the adopted law says.

At the same time, counter-sanction information will not include information constituting state and commercial secrets, as well as other information related to information of limited access in accordance with federal laws; information required for placement and use in state, municipal and other information systems; information required for distribution in accordance with federal laws.

The law will come into force on the day of its official publication^[18]

Foreign companies will be excommunicated from American semiconductors for supporting Russia

On June 27, 2022, it became known that the US authorities would expand anti-Russian sanctions and make companies that empathize with Russia could fall under them. In particular, for any support for Russia, these firms will receive punishment in the form of a ban on the use of American technology and the purchase of American goods.

The ban will be extended, including to various microcircuits, the US authorities said in an official statement. It is published on the White House website.

The US Department of Commerce will take its first action against companies engaged in illegal activities in support of Russia, adding several companies around the world to the list of legal entities that will prohibit these companies from purchasing American-made goods and technologies, including semiconductors, the authorities said.

The state and the US Treasury will also impose blocking sanctions against individuals associated with aiding Russia in tax evasion. The Commerce Department and Treasury will jointly issue a warning to financial institutions to help detect potential export control violations.

The imposed restrictions proposed by the Americans include a ban on the supply of Russian gold to the United States, as well as an increase in duties on more than 570 groups of Russian goods. In total, duties will grow by $2.3 billion.

In addition, the United States intends to expand personal and "corporate" sanctions. They will affect even more large Russian enterprises and citizens of Russia.

The White House statement did not say which companies would be subject to these restrictions. It follows from this that an enterprise from any country of the world can lose access to American technologies if it is seen in the support of Russia.

At the same time, the statement does not say what exactly will be regarded as support. The United States may count for it, including the shipment of goods from foreign companies to the Russian market.

Meanwhile, the Americans did not come up with anything new this time. They have experience potentially excommunicating foreign companies from their technology. The most striking example is the Taiwanese company TSMC, which is engaged in the contract production of semiconductors and is a major representative of this market in the^[19].

After much thought, the United States decided to curtail cooperation with Russia in the field of science and technology

After lengthy discussions, the Russia White House decided to curtail scientific and technological research cooperation between American state-affiliated entities with similar entities in. A White House statement on June 11 said, that USA scientific collaboration and any other relations with Russian state research institutions and persons will be "nullified^[20]

At the same time, joint projects and programs that were launched before the special operation of Russia in Ukraine may be completed, but new projects cannot be initiated, follows from the statement.

For private scientific and research institutions, the White House leaves the right to decide for itself whether to continue their collaboration with Russian colleagues or not.

The statement was published after a long almost complete official silence from the administration of US President Biden regarding Russian-American relations in the field of science and research. Washington was in no hurry to declare its policy in this area, despite the multiple sanctions already imposed on Russia. This is due to the fact that the administration conducted an internal discussion with scientific leaders on how they should lead in this area against the background of the situation in Ukraine^[21].

Unlike the United To Europe States, in the early weeks of the start of the special operation, the government began to introduce various bans on Russian science. The first to do so was to tell her Germany universities to "freeze" Russia academic relationships with. She was quickly followed by,,, and Denmark Sweden France others. In early March, the European Commission also decided to suspend cooperation with Russian organizations in the field of research, science and innovation.

In April, the Biden administration proposed introducing new legislation that would ease visa requirements for leading scientists who want to come to the States to "deprive" Russian President Putin of "some of his best innovators." However, so far this proposal has not passed through Congress.

Amid White House silence, some American universities and research centers acted on their own initiative. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced the termination of 11 years of cooperation with Skolkovo due to the special operation in Ukraine^[22]. And on May 16, Ukrainian President Zelensky held a meeting via video link with the American Association of Universities, at which he called for more active support for Ukraine.

In May, Skoltech Technological University said that, despite the fact that scientific contacts at the institutional level began to collapse, they continue at the personal level: "as they worked and work," said Skoltech Rector Alexander Kuleshov.

Shortly before the American White House decided on its policy in the scientific field towards Russia against the backdrop of a special operation, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the United States of the termination of the memorandum of cooperation in the field of culture, science, education and the media. This happened on June 3^[23].

According to UNESCO, the United States is Russia's largest partner in the field of science. In 2017-2019 Russian and American researchers jointly wrote about 14.5 thousand scientific papers. Germany comes in second, followed by France, Britain and China.

Foreign software leaves the Russian market. What are the legal consequences of a unilateral "breakdown" of relations?

As you know, many foreign IT companies announced the termination of sales of their products and the provision of their services for users from Russia. Among them are large brands - SAP, Cisco, IBM, Oracle, Adobe, Imperva, Fortinet, Microsoft, Norton, Avast, etc. Their departure may mean both a suspension of support and updates to software already purchased by Russian users (software), and a complete shutdown of access to foreign software. This article discusses the most current scenarios for termination of the license agreement at the initiative of the licensor, as well as the legal consequences of such a unilateral "break" of relations. Read more here.

Britain has imposed sanctions against manufacturers of Elbrus and Baikal processors. They may be left without an ARM architecture

In early May 2022, the British authorities expanded sanctions against Russian developers of MCST and Baikal Electronics processors. In addition to freezing assets, the measures taken involve a ban on the provision of technological services, including the use of current processor models in new architecture developments by the British company ARM and possible restrictions on production at factories around the world. Read more here.

Malaysia is ready to consider the supply of scarce semiconductors to Russia

Malaysian Ambassador to Russia Bala Chandran announced his readiness to consider the supply of electronics to Russia. This became known on April 25, 2022. According to him, Malaysia, located in Southeast Asia, will consider all without exception Russia's requests for the supply of electronics, as well as semiconductors. Read more here.

Poland imposed sanctions against the founders of 1C and Kaspersky Lab, and also blocked their subsidiaries in the country

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Polish Administration imposed ^[24] on Polish subsidiaries 1C, Kaspersky Lab and their founders Boris Nuraliev and Yevgeny Kaspersky.

The accounts of 1S-Poland and Axioma DR IT, the beneficiary of which is called Boris Nuraliev, will be frozen. The accounts of the information security developer Kaspersky Lab, the regional distributor Kaspersky Lab Polska and the online store Kaspersky Store, which belong to Yevgeny Kaspersky, will also be frozen.

In addition to freezing accounts, sanctions imply a ban on the provision of financial resources and other economic resources, exclusion from public procurement procedures, a ban on participation in activities aimed at bypassing sanctions. Personal funds of Boris Nuraliev and Yevgeny Kaspersky in Poland will also be frozen, in addition, they are prohibited from entering the country.

According to the Polish Foreign Ministry, such restrictions will reduce Russia the income of these persons and companies, which will lead to a reduction in budget revenues from which the special operation is financed. To Ukraine

In total, 15 Russian individuals and 35 legal entities were included in the list. In addition to Boris Nuraliev and Yevgeny Kaspersky, Poland's sanctions included:

• Oleg Deripaska, founder of the Basic Element industrial group;
• Wildberries founder Tatiana Bakalchuk;
• co-owner of Alfa-Group Mikhail Fridman;
• Founder of the Safmar group Mikhail Gutseriev;
• Mikhail Gutseriev's brother - Sait-Salam Gutseriev;
• co-owner of Akron Vyacheslav Kantor;
• Andrey Melnichenko, ex-owner of Eurochem and SUEK;
• Andrey Melnichenko's wife - Alexander Melnichenko;
• Alexey Mordashov, owner of Severstal;
• Head of Rosneft Igor Sechin;
• Member of the Board of PhosAgro Timur Rashidov;
• founder of the Renova group Viktor Vekselberg;
• Faberlic owner and head of the Duma faction "New People" Alexey Nechaev.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has determined which brands of foreign companies that have left the Russian Federation are allowed for parallel import

Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation approved the order, which determined the list of goods allowed for import Russia into goods without the consent of the copyright holder. This became known on April 20, 2022. In particular, it included,, Apple,, Samsung,, and Nokia Sony, Siemens- in the HP Huawei Lenovo category,,,, phones gadgets and hours earphones. In the category, they electronic engineers cars will import, Jeep, Jaguar, Land Rover,,,,,,,, etc. Chrysler Plus Cadillac Tesla Volvo Skoda Toyota Nissan components for them - metal structures and products from,, sensors and Wabco blocks, Mahle Cummins drive belts and hydraulics Gates, Continental tires,,, and. Also on the list are Cummins, Michelin Goodyear Bridgestone Deutz,,, Nissan,, Toyota, Volvo car engines and Kubota Hyundai Volkswagen industrial equipment Scania Caterpillar, Siemens, etc.

In total, the Ministry of Industry and Trade allowed more than 50 groups of goods to be sold in Russia without the consent of a foreign copyright holder. These include textiles, leather products, clothing, fur, perfumes, equipment and mechanical devices, telephones, computers and TV equipment, transport. Moreover, the Ministry used a combined approach: in some industries, the Ministry of Industry and Trade allowed the entire category of goods to be imported in parallel, and in others - only individual brands, in total there are about 200 of them in the document. For clothes and shoes (including sports), the Ministry of Industry and Trade did not use a point approach for brands - these goods are allowed completely

The list of the Ministry did not include jewelry, as well as furniture (with the exception of seats for transport). Jewelry is not of strategic importance, domestic manufacturers will be able to fill this niche, - explained in the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

As the purpose and motives of the order the possibility of import to the country of concrete lot of products on which applied the trademark served, but the owner did not agree to its import to the Russian Federation, - the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation in the explanatory note to the signed document ^[25] noted ^[26].

Huawei stopped supplying DSS and server equipment to Russia

The company Huawei stopped supplying Russia high-performance DSS and server equipment required by large corporate customers. A source in one of the Russian banks told TAdviser about this.

According to the source, enterprise-class IT solutions of the Chinese company are not available to customers from April 2022. In April, the company turned to the equipment manufacturer and was refused. Read more here

Huawei requires Russian software developers to comply with US sanctions

On April 11, 2022, it became known about the coercion of Russian application developers by the Chinese corporation Huawei to comply with anti-Russian sanctions. In March 2022, Huawei updated the agreement with developers in its AppGallery app store. Read more here.

The United States withdrew messaging equipment and software from sanctions against Russia

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) U.S. Treasury Department removed against Russia sanctions telecommunication equipment and a number of Internet technologies from under the introduced. This became known on April 8, 2022.

The decision concerns "all ordinary operations necessary to receive or transfer telecommunications," as well as "export or re-export, sale or supply directly or indirectly from the United States or by American persons, wherever they are, in the Russian Federation" of services, software, equipment or technologies for exchanging messages over the Internet.

In particular, we are talking about the exchange of messages, programs for videoconferences and chats, about services,, email social networks programs for the exchange of photos, films, documents and viewing web pages, as well as about applications for blogging, hosting about and registration of the United States domains^[27]

Information security leaders of large companies - about what Western products have turned into a "pumpkin," and how to resolve the issue with support

Information security experts from a number of large Russian companies told at an online conference on April 1 what restrictions Russian customers faced from vendors against the backdrop of Western sanctions. It was primarily about information security solutions, but others also mentioned. They also tried to answer questions about what are the options for solving the problem of supporting Western products if the vendor stops it, and whether it is worth relying on Chinese suppliers as an alternative to Western products.

"Falling off" solutions

The head of the security department of information systems Evraz Andrey Nuikin says that they, for example, the developer (Nessus programs for automatically finding flaws in the protection of information systems) sent a letter that the subscription "turned into a pumpkin." Updates stopped. The system works at the same time, but at the level of some day in February.

Of the IT products used in Evraz, Dell and VMware have ceased support, says Andrey Nuikin. He noted that some vendors almost immediately after the imposition of sanctions announced the suspension of work in Russia, for example, Cisco, and some went into standby mode: "For example, IBM, which paused everything and did not seem to leave, but also does not help."

The head of the department information security PIPE METALLURGIC COMPANY Alexander Sevostyanov says that some customers on the Russian market faced problems with the operation of solutions: Fortinet one date is written in the license, and the vendor changes it to another. Thus, the license turns out to be as if expired. When this happens, then, for example, the antivirus that is on the flagship Fortinet product - falls off. FortiGate

Dmitry Lyakhov, deputy head of the information security department of VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, says that in their company from information security products, almost nothing was affected after the imposition of sanctions. But the company revoked Autodesk licenses that had already been paid for. The company is considering the transition to Russian software, there are already many options.

Sergei Akifiev, chief information security specialist of the GAZ group, says that their company does not have any serious devices or solutions that would "fall off." The only thing is there is a problem with Nessus, which was previously mentioned by Andrei Nuikin. This decision in GAZ is now replaced by Russian scanners.

For most information security products, vendors still limited the sale of new licenses to new customers, but are trying to leave support for old customers, said the information security manager of Evraz. Among them ESET, Trend Micro - they work. Microsoft seems to work too, albeit with questions.

There is no need to panic. In principle, everything works, and even if you disconnect from a smart account from 30 to 90 days it will work. But what will happen after that, whether FirePower (the solution Cisco - approx. TAdviser) will turn into a "golden brick" or simply will not receive updates, it is not clear. No one has information, "says Nuikin.

In early March, information appeared that Cisco was starting to block Smart Accounts of Russian customers. To avoid disconnection, experts recommended that at the exit of the infrastructure to the Internet, put a hard access-list with a traffic ban on the address tools.cisco.com. Having done this, the company will receive a delay in disconnection for 30-90 days, retaining in full all the functionality of the equipment. Read more here.

An important point is that the companies from which information security experts participated in the discussion did not directly fall under the new Western sanctions imposed in February and March against the background of Russia's special operation in Ukraine. Otherwise, the situation with disconnection from Western IT solutions could be much worse for them.

Support for products of outgoing Western vendors. Will the integrator help?

For some imported software products, technical support can be picked up by the internal IT resources of customer companies, says Andrey Nuikin. Evraz, for example, has a lot of self-written software, and it is supported by its own IT specialists.

With "iron" a more complex question. Previously, when there were problems with the "hardware," the replacement took place at the click of the fingers, and what to do now in conditions of limited supplies, Nuikin notes not entirely clear. He added that some Russian integrators with some reservations began to offer technical support in certain areas.

Dmitry Lyakhov says that at least in their company, about 70% of issues are resolved through integrators. You no longer have to create tickets at the vendor level and contact these companies - almost everything goes through integrators. In his opinion, to some extent in critical situations, VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation will be able to cope.

However, there is an opinion that in the case of vendors whose technical support has completely "fallen off," support by Russian integrators helps only in simple cases. And in difficult cases or in serious failures, you will still need the help of a vendor who may no longer be in Russia.

Screwdrivers and flashing as an outlet

On the vastness of the forums there are specialists who at home remake not only the hardware, but also the firmware for their needs. In the IT community, the idea sounds that now comes the time of "repairmen" and "homemade."

Sergei Akifiev, however, believes that such solutions can be good only for small organizations, and for large "dedicated" solutions there is no good. It will not take a year or three to put this at the industrial level of development, he believes, and even in this case this path is in doubt.

Andrei Nuikin believes that for some time the "homemade" will take the old Cisco and install it, using several donors and changing something in the firmware to solve problems. But this can be a solution for some kind of transition period in different companies. The question is how reliable it will be: in large companies, changes in firmware can lead to serious consequences.

'China is the way to nothing'

To say that the line with sanctions has been passed is still premature, and relying on decisions from countries that have not yet imposed sanctions against Russia is not a very reliable idea.

Andrei Nuikin from Evraz notes that, of course, you need to look at alternatives. The company looks, for example, at the Israeli Check Point, which did not previously adjoin the sanctions. However, the list of countries with which conflicts arise may change at any time, and decisions from other countries may also be blocked.

It seems to me that we need to look very carefully now at foreign decisions, because today we are friends, and tomorrow, maybe enemies. I would not rely entirely. As a temporary, transitional solution, this is possible, but, of course, you need to focus on your own, and manufacturers - more actively and widely cover information security segments and offer your solutions, "says Nuikin.

Someone believes that now China is our everything. At the moment, this country not only does not support, but also condemns Western sanctions against Russia and is ready to cooperate with Russia. Alexander Sevostyanov notes that now, through Asian channels, small companies will begin to import products from Huawei and other manufacturers into Russia, as an option.

But China is a path to nowhere for one simple reason: today we depend on the United States and Europe, and tomorrow we depend on China. We are simply changing one side to the other and can come to a situation where China will dictate its conditions to us, Sevostyanov believes.

It's time to create your own, he said. And this is a problem that rests on personnel. The lightest heads, according to the head of the information security department of TMK, left Russia and have to work with what is. Our IT industry will be lifted by those who remain.

Therefore, I would also recommend that all participants in this market retain their IT personnel in all possible ways, especially programmers, information security specialists. This gaping personnel hole, if it appears, will no longer be replenished or replenished, but at very high costs, "stressed Alexander Sevostyanov.

The United States imposed sanctions on Micron and T-Platforms

At the end of March 2022, the US Treasury Department announced the imposition of sanctions against the Russian technology sector. In particular, restrictions are imposed on the chip manufacturer Micron, the Research Institute Vector (conducts research and produces equipment in the field of radio engineering and radio electronics, fulfills orders from federal ministries and departments, the Academy of Sciences, universities), as well as the developer of supercomputers "T-Platforms." Read more here.

WSJ: The United States does not impose sanctions against Kaspersky Lab because they will lead to an increase in cyber attacks on countries

On March 30, 2022, it became known USA Joe Biden that there were disagreements in the presidential administration over whether to impose sanctions on "" Kaspersky Lab due to the risk of growth. cyber attacks More. here

The Ukrainian authorities sent 4 thousand letters in order to force foreign IT companies to leave Russia. Chinese vendors are now in their focus

After the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, at the initiative of the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov, the department headed by him sent more than 4 thousand requests signed by him to various companies, governments and other organizations in order to put pressure on foreign technology companies and force them to stop working in Russia. The American newspaper The Washington Post writes about this at the end of March^[28].

The minister reinforced his activities with a massive information campaign on Twitter, involving the public in it to increase pressure to create a "digital blockade" of Russia.

Since the end of February, many technology companies - mainly from the United States, Europe and their allies - have announced the suspension or restriction of activities in Russia, or the withdrawal from the Russian market. Some of them did this because of the sanctions imposed by the West, problems with logistics and financial risks, and some under the influence of pressure.

Among the companies that made such statements, Apple, IBM, HPE, Intel, AMD, Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, Autodesk, Adobe, VMware, etc. SAP faced especially severe pressure, from which Fedorov demanded to completely stop supporting Russian customers.

However, according to The Washington Post, Fedorov's already achieved "demarche" of mainly Western companies is not enough: the newspaper writes that now the Minister of Digital Transformation and his team are focused on large Chinese companies, such as Alipay the manufacturer. drones DJI

Regarding DJI, in particular, Fedorov emphasized that the drones of this manufacturer are used by the Russian military. DJI, in response to his appeal, said that they did not have the opportunity to "turn off" the drones, and offered him the option of setting up geofensing throughout Ukraine (the functionality of the drone, when its memory contains coordinates entered by the user and/or the manufacturer, blocking the drone from entering certain zones). But this option, provided the devices receive the appropriate update, would work for all DJI drones there, regardless of who launches them^[29].

However, in the case of Chinese IT companies, unlike Western ones, there was no demarche from Russia. And with the exception of the DJI response, Fedorov did not receive the desired result.

Probably, the position that China has officially taken is affected. Unlike Western countries and their allies, China not only did not impose, but also condemned sanctions against Russia because of the special operation. The Chinese authorities announced their intention to continue and develop cooperation with Russia. Moreover, Beijing called on Chinese companies to take advantage of the economic opportunities created by Western sanctions and occupy the niches left by them in Russia^[30].

However, appeals to IT companies "digital war" of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine are not limited. According to The Washington Post, after the start of the special operation, the Ukrainian department had new responsibilities, including attracting IT volunteers to disrupt the work of the main Russian sites. According to Fedorov, now at the disposal of his ministry there is a wide range of tools and skills for coordinated attacks.

Russia will abolish responsibility for parallel imports

On March 28, 2022, it became known that Russia would abolish responsibility for parallel imports - the import of goods into the country without the permission of the copyright holder. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has developed an appropriate draft resolution. However, the abolition of responsibility will affect the import of not all products, but only the one that is "necessary to saturate the consumer market," the department said. At the end of March 2022, for the supply of products to the country without the permission of the copyright holder, an obligation is provided for the court to pay him compensation up to 5 million rubles, it is also assumed that the goods must be destroyed. Parallel imports will bypass the ban of Western companies on the supply of their products to Russia, experts say.

The list of products will be determined on the basis of proposals from interested federal executive bodies, it is assumed that it will include products that are necessary to saturate the consumer market, the Ministry of Industry and Trade told Izvestia.

The FAS emphasized: parallel imports provide for the import of original goods produced directly by the copyright holder or with his consent. This approach will not lead to an increase in counterfeit goods in Russia. The antimonopoly department added that the norms and requirements for safety, quality and permits for products will continue to operate.

In the marketplaces of Russia - Ozon and Wildberries - they advocated the complete legalization of parallel imports. Its launch can be an effective measure to expand the range of goods in the country and will achieve the effect of curbing price increases, the Wildberries press service said.

In turn, Alexander Pakhomov, a leading researcher at the RANEPA Macroeconomic Research Laboratory, sees the risks that the abolition of responsibility for parallel imports entails. The expert believes that in the long term the number of counterfeit goods will increase due to the lack of proper control over original products from the brand.

FCS They did not answer the question whether customs plans to strengthen control over goods imported into Russia. However, they recalled that in the conditions of unfriendly actions of foreign states government ones, it is empowered to determine the list of goods, in respect of which "certain provisions of the Civil Code RUSSIAN FEDERATION on the protection of exclusive rights to the results of intellectual activity" and means of individualization may not^[31] of^[32]

The Ministry of Digital Development asked IT customers to enter the position of integrators who are unable to fulfill their obligations due to foreign vendors

On March 11 , the Ministry of Digital Development made a statement in which it draws the attention of corporate customers to the impossibility of Russian integrators fulfilling their obligations under concluded contracts for the supply of foreign computer and telecommunications equipment, components, software or the provision of related services, those manufacturers that have suspended (stopped) their activities in the Russian Federation or introduced appropriate restrictions. This applies to contracts where customers have made a full or partial prepayment prior to the date of the relevant restrictions.

In this regard, until the situation is clarified, the Ministry of Digital Development recommends that customers postpone going to court to force integrators and vendors to fulfill their obligations or collect prepayments and fines from them. The agency also asks customers and integrators to send information about prepaid and unfulfilled contracts for the supply of goods and services of foreign manufacturers to the Ministry of Ministry of Digital Development by March 25.

We invite vendors to start an urgent discussion of the conditions for the phased transfer to Russian IT companies of technical support for components of information systems and infrastructure facilities, violations in the work of which can lead to serious failures in life support systems. The Ministry of Digital Development is ready to provide the necessary assistance in establishing such interaction. If the vendor makes a decision to reduce personnel in its Russian offices, we ask you to inform about the planned terms of dismissal of employees and organize interaction with Ministry of Digital Development to provide them with the necessary assistance in employment, the Ministry of Digital Development said in a statement.

The agency does not support the idea of ​ ​ legalizing the use of pirated software, but in the case of a prepayment made by the customer for future periods of its use, it asks you to be sympathetic to the fact of using this software before replacing it with Russian competitive counterparts. In case of resumption of activities in Russia, all lost revenue during the use of this software can be returned to foreign companies.

We oppose the introduction of administrative and criminal liability for the heads of Russian offices of foreign companies that have suspended or stopped their activities in Russia or are working with appropriate restrictions, the Ministry of Digital Development also said in a statement.

The department understands that the decisions were not made directly by them and they cannot be responsible for them, and they are sure that if foreign companies that have suspended or ceased their activities do not resume their work in Russia, then the niches occupied by these companies will be quickly filled with Russian solutions, as well as products of companies countries that have not introduced appropriate restrictions.

Also, on the organization of current activities in Russia by foreign companies, including payments, the ministry is ready to quickly provide the necessary assistance and consult. Contact person - Deputy Minister of Digital Development Maxim Parshin (m.parshin@digital.gov.ru).

South Korea secured removal of its firms from US sanctions against Russia

In March 2022, against the background of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, it became known that within a few days the United States would add the country to the list of direct foreign products excluded from the rule.

According to this norm, companies from third countries that produce goods using American technologies must obtain a license from the US government before sending the product to Russia.

In exchange, Seoul promised to impose its own export controls at the same level as the United States and the international community.

Russian organizations began to face the revocation of SSL certificates. The problem was noticed at VTB, the Central Bank and Promsvyazbank. What should I do?

On February 28 and March 1, a number of Russian organizations noticed the revocation of SSL certificates. In particular, information appeared that the sites of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and PSB were not opened using the https protocol due to the revoked certificates by the certification centers^[33]A similar problem was observed and the site VTB U^[34] organizations fell under Western sanctions against the background of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, which began on February 24.

In addition, the domain name registrar hosting Namecheap announced on February 28 that it would stop serving users from Russia and gave them until March 6 to transfer top-level domains to other providers.

Read more here.

In the Ministry of Digital Development the headquarters for monitoring of a condition of the IT companies is created. It includes people from Yandex, 1C and VK

As TAdviser found out, on February 28, 2022, following the announcement of new measures to support the IT industry, the head of the Ministry of Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev signed an order on the operational headquarters for monitoring the state of Russian organizations in the IT industry in order to ensure their sustainable functioning in connection with the introduction of restrictive measures by foreign states, international or foreign organizations.

TAdviser has read the text of the order. It follows from it that the tasks of the headquarters include the timely detection of negative factors affecting the sustainable development of IT industry organizations and the preparation of proposals to the government to take measures to eliminate the identified risks or minimize their negative impact on the main operational and financial and economic indicators of the activities of these organizations.

To solve these problems, the headquarters will:

• analyze information on the financial and economic status and financial and economic activities of organizations;

• identify risks that may have a negative impact on their activities;

• prepare reference and information and analytical materials, including proposals to eliminate the identified risks or minimize their negative impact on the main operational and financial and economic indicators of the organizations' activities;

• prepare proposals for the introduction of new or adjustment of existing measures to support organizations.

Meetings of the headquarters will be held as necessary.

It is headed by Maksut Shadayev, and Deputy Minister of Digital Development Maxim Parshin is the deputy head of the new structure. Other representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development, IT companies, industry organizations are members of the headquarters:

Dmitry Nikitin, Director of the IT Industry Development Department of the Ministry of Digital Development

Vladimir Bengin, Director of the Cybersecurity Department

Svetlana Sheludchenkova, Referent of the IT Industry Development Department

Renata Abdulina, Chairman of the Association of the Largest Software and Hardware Consumers

Vladimir Gabrielyan, First Deputy General Director of VK

Nikolay Komlev, Executive Director of the Association of Computer and Information Technology Enterprises

Renat Lashin, Executive Director of ARPP "Domestic Software"

Valentin Makarov, President of RUSSOFT

Ilya Massukh, Director of the Competence Center for Import Substitution in ICT

Boris Nuraliev, Director of 1C

Sergey Plutogarenko, Director of the Association of Electronic Communications

Tigran Khudaverdyan, Managing Director of Yandex

The Russian stand was banned at the Mobile World Congress. Preparation cost millions

February 28, 2022 started in the hybrid format of the World Mobile Congress (MWC) in Barcelona - one of the largest annual world events, in which the largest ICT companies take part. This time, the collective Russian stand, under the wing of which the products of domestic developers are usually exhibited, is absent at the event.

This is due to the fact that after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, the international association GSMA, the organizer of the MWC, issued a statement in which it condemned the actions of the first and announced its decision to leave the country without a pavilion at the exhibition.

The GSMA adheres to all government sanctions and restrictions related to this situation. There will be no Russian pavilion on the MWC22, - said in a statement on the congress website.

According to the public procurement portal, the Russian Export Center acted as the customer of the pavilion at MWC. He concluded an agreement in the amount of more than 43 million rubles for the provision of services for participation in the exhibition^[35]. This amount includes, among other things, the mandatory fees of the event organizers.

Judging by the procurement documentation, at a collective stand with an area of ​ ​ 120.5 square meters. meters with financial support of the Russian Export Center, they planned to exhibit their products to Insitech, TrueConf, Robbo, AV Soft, Softmedialab, Metakom Alpha, Selekti IT.

However, the contract covers not only these companies, it also includes partial payment for organizing participation in WMC for a number of companies with stand-alone stands: Automatic Electronic Systems, Nexine, Stick Company and Infinet. They, unlike the collective stand, were not banned from the exhibition. All are listed as exhibitors on the MWC website on the day the event began.

How the amount of the contract is distributed between services for collective and separate participants is not specified in the procurement documentation.

The Russian Export Center could not answer TAdviser's questions, including whether the organizations would return money for the failed participation of the Russian pavilion.

Of the Russian companies, Kaspersky Lab also participates in MWC independently with its stand. And in the conference program, representatives of VimpelCom (operating under the Beeline brand ) and MTS are announced in thematic sessions .

US imposed sanctions against RDIF and its leader

On February 28, 2022, US sanctions were announced against the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and its head Kirill Dmitriev. They were included in the SDN List, which provides for a complete blocking of assets. Read more here.

Biden announced new sanctions for Russia, including serious restrictions on imports of high-tech products

The United States will impose new sanctions against Russia and import restrictions. This was stated by American President Joe Biden on February 24.

Today I sanction additional powerful sanctions and new restrictions on what can be exported to Russia. It will cost the Russian economy dearly, "Biden said.

The US plans to limit Russia's ability to do business in dollars, pounds and yen to limit the country's ability to be part of the global economy. The country's largest bank, according to Biden, will be cut off from the American financial system, and four more largest banks will be blocked - all their assets in the United States will be frozen. In a press release from the US Treasury on this matter, it is said that in addition to Sberbank, new sanctions will affect VTB, Sovcombank, Novikombank and Otkritie Bank. In addition, Alfa-Bank and Credit Bank of Moscow also appeared on the list a little later.

Part of the sanctions concerns the supply of high-tech products to Russia. America and its allies intend to cut Russia's access to funding and technology for strategic sectors of the economy, Biden said. In particular, together with allies, the United States intends to limit the import of high-tech products of Russia by 50%.

Biden expects that this will strike Russia in the field of opportunities to modernize its defense sector and aerospace industry, including the space program, damage shipbuilding and hit economic competitiveness.

In this regard, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement about the introduction of export control in relation to semiconductors, computers, telecommunications solutions, information security equipment, lasers, American-made sensors or using American technologies. The department says that these restrictions reflect cooperation between the United States, the EU, Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

They also expect to impose restrictions on borrowing in the US and EU markets for the largest Russian state-owned companies and impose sanctions against Russian officials, large businessmen and their families.

Inclusion of VK CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko in the US sanctions list

In February 2022, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against VK CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko, son of the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko. The holding said that the restrictions imposed on the head would not affect the work of the company. Read more here.

The heads of Yandex, Rostelecom and VK discussed with Putin the consequences of the military operation in Ukraine

On February 24, President Vladimir Putin met with representatives of the Russian business community^[36]. It was attended mainly by heads of industrial enterprises, but there were also heads of large companies associated with other industries, including ICT and e-commerce.

According to a senior TAdviser source, the most sanctioned risk companies were invited to the meeting.

"Our meeting with you takes place in, to put it mildly, non-standard conditions, although we planned it in advance," the Kremlin's official website quotes Putin.

The event was held behind closed doors. Only a part of the duration of less than 15 minutes is publicly available, where most of the time is occupied by speeches by Vladimir Putin and President RSPPAlexander Shokhin on the work of Russian companies in the new conditions. What issues were discussed regarding representatives of the IT industry remains unknown.

We are well aware that the new sanctions will be much tougher than all previous restrictions, and will affect many sectors: the financial sector, extractive industries, and the supply of technological equipment. They will affect certain types of raw materials, and components, and supply chains, transport and logistics chains may be disrupted, "said Shokhin. - Of course, in order to dampen all these restrictions, Russian business, Russian companies will have to work even more vigorously and efficiently, ensure the uninterrupted operation of their enterprises, preventing job cuts, shortages, rush demand, price jumps. It will be necessary to actively implement the import substitution strategy, to look for new partners in those countries that are ready to continue cooperation. Of course, much depends on the timeliness and success of the government.

What exactly the head of state discussed with representatives of the IT industry is still unknown. Earlier, official representatives of the United States and European countries announced that new sanctions against Russia would also affect the technological sphere.

List of some participants in the meeting with Putin:

Peter Aven - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alfa Bank Banking Group, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AlfaStrakhovanie JSC

Andrei Akimov - Chairman of the Board, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprombank JSC

Vagit Alekperov - President of PJSC LUKOIL

Oleg Belozerov - President - Chairman of the Board of Russian Railways OJSC

Andrey Bokarev - President of Transmashholding JSC

Alexander Vinovurov - Member of the Board of Directors of the Magnit retail chain, President of Marathon Group

German Gref - President, Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia

Five technology companies ВЭБ.РФ and Promsvyazbank fell under US sanctions

On February 23, 2022, the US Treasury Department published a list of sanctions in connection with Russia's recognition of the DPR and LPR. The restrictions included ВЭБ.РФ, Promsvyazbank ( PSB), as well as 42 of their "daughters"^[37]Companies from the United States and its allied states are prohibited from operating with them.

Among the structures of ВЭБ.РФ and Promsvyazbank under sanctions are five technological organizations: controlled ВЭБ.РФ Angstrom-T and NM-Tech, and on the part of Promsvyazbank - PSB Innovations and Investments and the Era Fund and Technosoft established by it.

Against the manufacturer of microelectronics "Angstrom" against the background of the aggravated geopolitical friction of Russia with Western countries, sanctions are introduced not for the first time. He and his "daughters" were included in the sanctions lists back in 2016. And in 2018, the bankruptcy process of Angstrom-T began, which was announced by the court in 2019. Angstrom-T shares went to the bank of ВЭБ.РФ, but at the suit of Angstrom JSC, the deal was canceled through the court, and in 2020 ВЭБ.РФ through the Zelenograd company NM-Tech controlled by it, again bought out the assets of Angstrom-T.

ВЭБ.РФ had plans through NM-Tech to launch a new production of microelectronics based on the bankrupt Angstrom-T. In 2021, NM-Tech, with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, hired several dozen specialists from Taiwan's UMC, the world's third manufacturer of NM-Tech semiconductors^[38]

The process was launched, as of February 2022, NM-Tech has several production and other vacancies. However, tightening sanctions pressure can now complicate the supply of necessary equipment and consumables for production.

The Era Foundation, founded by PSB Innovation and Investment, was previously called PSB-Fintech, and its original founder in 2017 was Technoserv Consulting. He received the name "Era Foundation" in 2020. Promsvyazbank could not promptly clarify TAdviser the current functions of this organization.

In March 2021, Promsvyazbank reported that the first investment fund for the development of innovative industries will be created on the basis of the Era military innovative technopolis^[39]An agreement on cooperation on these issues was concluded today in Moscow between the PSB and the Main Directorate of Research Activities of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The fund will provide support at all stages of the implementation of initiative projects: from structuring the transaction to allocating funding and further supporting projects.

Skolkovo Based at Technosoft, also a former Technoserva asset, founded by PSB Innovation and Investment, is a domestic application developer. software Its main tasks are to develop, implement and support its own innovative technological platforms and applied solutions based on domestic. ON

See also

• Sanctions and restrictions in the field of high technologies in the world

Notes