The United States announced sanctions on Friday against 12 top executives of Russia-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, a day after banning the sale of popular antivirus software on national security grounds.
In a statement announcing the sanctions designations, the Treasury Department said the broad sanctions target many of Kaspersky Lab’s most senior executives, including its chief operating officer, but not its CEO or the company itself.
“Today’s actions against Kaspersky Lab officials underscore our commitment to ensuring the integrity of the cyber domain and protecting our citizens from malicious cyber threats,” said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Counterterrorism and Financial Intelligence.
“The United States will take appropriate steps to hold accountable those who facilitate or enable this activity,” he added.
The Treasury sanctions came a day after the Commerce Department announced it would ban the Moscow-based cybersecurity company from selling a popular antivirus product in the United States.
The announcement came after a lengthy investigation, which the Commerce Department said found that Kaspersky’s “continued operations in the United States create national security risks due to the Russian government’s offensive cyber capabilities and ability to influence or direct Kaspersky’s operations.”
The move marks the Commerce Department’s first since an executive order issued under President Donald Trump gave the department authority to investigate whether certain companies pose national security risks.
In a statement to AFP, Kaspersky called the Treasury Department’s sanctions “unjustified and unfounded”, adding that they were based on geopolitical concerns rather than a “comprehensive assessment” of the health of its products and operations.
“Neither Kaspersky nor its management have any ties to any government,” it continued, calling the Treasury Department’s allegations “mere speculation without concrete evidence of a threat to the national security of the United States.”
Moscow has strongly condemned the decision to ban the sale of Kaspersky Lab’s antivirus software.
“Kaspersky Lab is a highly competitive company internationally,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
“This is a favorite tactic used by the U.S. side to create an unfair competition. They resort to such tactics every time.”
– “Unacceptable” risks –
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Friday that the company is “subject to the jurisdiction, control, or direction of the Russian government and may use its privileged access to obtain sensitive data.”
This “poses an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security and the safety and security of Americans,” he added in a statement.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, Kaspersky is headquartered in Moscow but has offices in 31 countries around the world, serving more than 400 million users and 270,000 corporate clients in over 200 countries.
The Treasury Department said the sanctions target many of the company’s senior executives, including longtime Kaspersky Lab chief operating officer Andrei Tikhonov and chief legal officer Igor Chekunov.
Other individuals sanctioned include the company’s deputy CEO Daniil Borshev, chief business development officer and board member Andrey Efremov, and head of corporate communications Denis Zenkin.
Da/Susto
