US says internet services are exempt from Russian sanctions

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge

THe US Department of the Treasury exempts telecommunications services from sanctions against Russia. The move was confirmed late last week in an order, and follows requests from advocacy groups who feared a disruption would cut off Russian activists from the outside world. It might not cause companies to cut off access to restore it.

The new order allows business transactions involving services, software, hardware, or technology incident to the exchange of communications over the internet. Transactions involving Russian financial institutions are not authorized by it.

The US government has been urged to avoid disrupting internet access by Access Now and other nonprofits. The decision was applauded by Access Now tech legal counsel Natalia Krapiva.

The decision comes after several telecommunications companies pulled out of Russia. In support of the people of Ukraine, internet backbone providers Lumen and Cogent ended service last month, as did email service Mailchimp.

The Ukrainian government requested a complete cutoff of the Russian internet, including revocation of its access to the domain name system. The request was denied by the overseer of the domain name system, which warned that revocation could have dire consequences.