A U.S. firm supplied technology to a Russian missile company after 2014 despite sanctions levied by the United States, according to a new report.
Extreme Networks was found to have provided information technology systems to MMZ Avangard, a Russian state-owned missile company, according to a report from Reuters, citing emails, business records, and interviews.
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MMZ Avangard is best known for producing missiles for the S-400, Russia’s most advanced missile defense system. Extreme told Reuters in a statement that it believes a surrogate buyer shipped the technology to Russia and has notified U.S. authorities of its findings.
Reuters reported that between 2017 and 2021, evidence showed MMZ Avangard obtained over half a million dollars of Extreme equipment, mainly for its IT networks.
Though Extreme claimed it had no knowledge of any sales to Russia, an internal complaint from April of this year, six weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, said, “Extreme equipment is used on Russian warships … in communications systems.” The complaint hinted at wider sales to Russian military companies, though the company claimed the allegations were made by a disgruntled employee and that the company has no records of deals involving Russian warships.
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In addition to missiles manufactured for the S-400 system, MMZ Avangard produces a variety of offensive missiles, many of which were used in Moscow’s recent missile barrage on Ukrainian infrastructure, Reuters reported.
Extreme admitted to doing business in Russia post-2014, as allowed by U.S. law, but not with MMZ Avangard, which has been sanctioned since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
