On April 7, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
issued a new General License No. 25 (GL25) authorizing
certain transactions ordinarily incident to telecommunications and
the exchange of communications over the internet in Russia.
GL25 authorizes U.S. persons to engage in transactions that are
ordinarily incident and necessary to the to the receipt or
transmission of telecommunications involving Russia that are
prohibited by OFAC's Russian Harmful Foreign Activities
Sanctions Regulations (31 C.F.R. Part 587), subject to the
limitations specified in the license.
GL25 also authorizes U.S. persons to provide services, software,
hardware, or technology to Russia incident to the exchange of
communications over the internet that would otherwise be prohibited
by Part 587. Qualifying services include instant messaging,
videoconferencing, chat and email, social networking, sharing of
photos, movies, and documents, web browsing, blogging, web hosting,
and