Donald Trump lifts sanctions on Russia that were imposed by Obama in response to cyber-security concerns

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday eased some economic sanctions against Russia, specifically licensing cyber-security sales to the Russian Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, according to official documents.

General License No. 1 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department covers "all transactions and activities" involving the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, that were prohibited by earlier executive orders.

It notes in particular that "requesting, receiving, utilizing, paying for, or dealing in licenses, permits, certifications, or notifications issued or registered by the Federal Security Service (FSB) for the importation, distribution, or use of information technology products in the Russian Federation" is allowed.

The initial sanctions, imposed by President Obama in April 2015, were titled "Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities." That was further strengthened in December in an order entitled, "Taking Additional Steps to Address the national emergency with Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-enabled Activities."

President Trump brushed off the reports, saying, "I"m not easing ... anything."

At the White House, press secretary Sean Spicer also disputed that the move by Treasury was "easing" sanctions.

“We’re not easing,” he said, adding that, “It is, from what I understand, a regular course of action” that Treasury takes when sanctions are imposed.

“It’s a fairly common practice for the Treasury Department, after sanctions are put in place, to go back and look at whether or not there needs to be specific carve-outs for different, either industries or products and services that need to be going back and forth,” he said.

The Obama administration eased sanctions on Iran as part of a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, including a ban on the sale of many medical devices. That change affected products used for nuclear medicine purposes that might have uses in an atomic weapons program.

Read More...