The United States imposed economic sanctions on a number of Russian companies, as they would help the Kremlin spy on targets in North America and Western Europe. On Monday, the US Treasury Department said it would apply severe economic restrictions to a number of Russian firms that would work closely with the Kremlin. One of the companies has been identified as Digital Security, which Washington says has helped Russian intelligence agencies develop their offensive cyber capabilities. Two of Digital Security's subsidiaries, Embedi and ERPScan, have also been placed on the US Treasury Department's sanctions list. Monday's statement from the Treasury Department named another Russian company, the Kvant Scientific Research Institute, which it described as a front company run by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
The offending Russian company is Divetechnoservices, a manufacturer of diving equipment. The United States claims the FSB paid the company $ 15 million in 2011 to design equipment to be used to intercept underwater communications cables. According to Washington, the equipment designed by Divetechnoservices is now used by a fleet of Russian ships that sail the oceans of the world in search of submarine communication cables. One such vessel, according to reports, is the Yantar, ostensibly an ocean-going research vessel, which Washington says is used to detect underwater communications cables.
In addition to Divetechnoservices, the US Treasury has named three people who will face economic sanctions due to what Washington says, namely their involvement with the underwater hardware manufacturer. They are: Vladimir Yakovlevich Kaganskiy, owner and former director of the company, Aleksandr Lvovich Tribun, who acts as general manager of Divetechnoservice and Oleg Sergeyevich Chirikov, identified as the head of the divetechnoservices underwater surveillance program. These men, all Russian citizens, will not be able to enter into business relations with American companies or citizens.
