The USA Has Imposed Sanctions Against Companies from 6 Countries For Supplying Electronics to Russia

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced sanctions against a criminal network that, in violation of sanctions, supplied electronics to Russia. All companies are linked to Belgian businessman Hans De Geetere.

This information is reported in the official statement of the US Department of the Treasury.

The network, subject to sanctions, consists of nine legal and five physical persons from Russia, Belgium, Cyprus, Sweden, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands.

"Today’s coordinated action reflects our collective commitment to enforcing our sanctions and export controls, including holding accountable those who seek to evade these measures," said the US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Counterterrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson.

In parallel with OFAC's actions, the US Department of Justice has released two indictments against Belgian businessman Hans De Geetere. He is accused of organizing a long-running scheme of illegal export of sensitive military technologies from the US to China and Russia.

The US Department of Commerce has added Geetere and his five companies to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) list.

At the same time, the Belgian authorities are also taking measures against Geetere "on charges related to his global illicit procurement scheme."

"The United States and our allies remain focused on disrupting any attempts by Russia or its trusted agents to gain access to the critical inputs and technologies necessary to support Moscow’s defense industry and facilitate its brutal war in Ukraine," added Nelson.

Hans De Geetere is considered a long-time agent for procurements for Russia, including the supply of programmable logic devices (PLDs) - priority semiconductor devices that Russia acquires for its armaments.

Geetere is the director of several companies, including the Belgian company Knokke Heist Support Corporation Management, the Cyprus-based Eriner Limited, the Cyprus-based The Mother Ark Ltd, and Netherlands-based European Trading Technology B.V.

It is worth noting that it became known earlier that the Finnish Customs Service has opened a criminal investigation into the supply of drones and other military goods to Russia by two Finnish companies.