The US sanction on Microsoft has already been made public. The American Government has sanctioned the technology company with several fines, amounting to a total of 3.3 million dollars (3 million euros). The agreement to this payment, as reported by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury, corresponds to the violation of the control laws and export sanctions of the United States, for the treatment of its Russian subsidiary with companies that have participated in the invasion of Ukraine.
The reasons for civil penalties against Microsoft
The reason for these fines imposed on the American multinational is due to a violation of sanctions and export control laws, which it has decided to accept in order to cooperate in the investigation that is being carried out. Microsoft has decided to pay the more than 3 million dollars to settle its civil liability in this way.
Microsoft authorized its software to be used in areas of Crimea that have been invaded by Russia by individuals and entities that are subject to US sanctions. In this way, the Department of Commerce and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) believe that between the years 2012 and 2019, the multinational violated 1,339 sanctions programs regarding restrictions on Cuba, Iran, Syria and Russia. The Department asserts that Microsoft sold and activated licenses for software and related services from servers and SDN-enabled systems located in the United States and Ireland, to users who were sanctioned.
As extracted from the government statement, Microsoft, Microsoft Ireland and Microsoft Russia did not control who was purchasing the company’s software and services through third-party partners: “The reasons for these apparent violations are the lack of complete or accurate information about the identity of end-customers of Microsoft products,” the Treasury Department has stated.
In addition, in this same sense, the US Department of the Treasury has affirmed that “the amount of the agreement reflects the determination of the Office of Foreign Assets Control that the conduct of the Microsoft entities was unusual and voluntarily disclosed, and also reflects the Significant corrective actions taken by Microsoft following discovery of apparent violations.”
There are several companies involved in the process
Among the entities that have participated in this violation of laws, it has been known that one of them is Glavgosekspertiza Rossii, which participated in the construction of the Kerch bridge in 2014 to connect Russia with the territory of Crimea, after it was invaded by the Russian army. The second company that has been known is the United Shipbuilding Corporation, architect of the development and manufacture of warships for the Russian troops.
The Assistant Secretary for Export Control of the United States, Matthew Axelrod, warns that “American companies will be held accountable for the activities of their foreign affiliates.”
Microsoft’s cooperation
In the note published last week by the Government and the technology company, it is also revealed that the American giant voluntarily revealed these alleged violations carried out, in order to cooperate in the investigation and take the appropriate measures to prevent these violations from recurring.
The United States Government, led by Joe Biden, has been implacable in the face of non-compliance with its laws and Microsoft has taken good account of this, which is now fully cooperative to prevent it from happening again and being sanctioned again.
