United States lifted sanctions on number of individuals and entities acting in Russia’s interests

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced the removal of a number of individuals and entities from the Russia-related sanctions list.

As reported by Censor.NET, this is stated in a notice by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department.

Among those removed is Russian national Yevgeniya Tyurikova, who headed a division of Russia’s sanctioned Sberbank. Sanctions were also lifted from several Turkish IT companies and individuals working in the field of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, as well as Russian national Boris Vorontsov and Futuris FZE, a company registered in the UAE.

Removal from the sanctions list

OFAC noted that these individuals and companies had previously been subject to restrictions under a U.S. presidential executive order due to Russia’s actions. However, the reasons for lifting the sanctions were not disclosed.

Previously, some companies and their co-owners were sanctioned over operations in Russia’s technology sector or for facilitating Russian intelligence and military structures in procuring technology and equipment in violation of restrictions.

"The decision to remove them from the sanctions list does not provide explanations for the reasons, but it does not affect previous restrictions on other related entities," the OFAC statement said.

Technology sector and sanctions

Turkish company BSB Group and its affiliated structures were involved in schemes that allowed Russian intelligence services to circumvent restrictions on acquiring technology and equipment. The removal of these entities from the list comes amid ongoing U.S. monitoring of technology flows to Russia.