US Restricts Exports To Russian and Belarusian Firms

The Commerce Department said Friday's move intends to "degrade Russian and Belarusian military, aerospace, marine, and other vital sectors in reaction to Russia's savage attack on Ukraine's sovereignty."

The White House contended that the limits would help prevent equipment and software from reaching Russia's and Belarus' military sectors.

"These parties are effectively isolated from the inputs required to maintain Putin's war," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.

The regulations are based on a major extension of the so-called Foreign Direct Product Rule, which requires enterprises manufacturing high- and low-tech things abroad using American equipment to get a license from the US prior to exporting to Russia.

Additionally, the measures direct the Commerce Department to refuse virtually all of those licensing applications.

The Commerce Department added 260 organizations to the entity list as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Russia describes as a "special operation."