WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Feb. 2 revised recent U.S. sanctions that had unintentionally prevented American companies from exporting certain consumer electronic products to Russia. The change allows firms to deal with Russia’s security service, which licenses such exports under Russian law.
The Treasury Department said U.S. companies can now apply to Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, to sell low-level encrypted electronic devices such as cell phones or tablets. Those products had not been intended to be covered by the sanctions which the Obama administration imposed on Dec. 29 after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election.
