OREANDA-NEWS  Russian telecom operators and IT companies are under new EU sanctions. In particular, Miranda-Media, which operates in Crimea and in the annexed territories, and its structures Mir Telecom and Krymtelecom, as well as Ivan Zima, who headed the company until December 15, were blacklisted. Sanctions have been imposed against suppliers of cybersecurity solutions Informzashchita, BI.ZONE and Infotex. They are justified by the fact that the companies have licenses from Roskomnadzor and the FSB, and, in relation to Miranda Media, by the availability of traffic filtering equipment. If these grounds are applied formally, sanctions threaten many Russian companies. Market participants emphasize that they have long asked for the relevant registers to be classified.

The 12th EU sanctions package includes Russian telecom operators operating in Crimea and new territories. Among them are Miranda-Media LLC, Mir Telecom LLC and Krymtelecom JSC. The European Union justifies the restrictions by the fact that these operators provide communication services in Crimea, Sevastopol, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. For Miranda Media, the availability of traffic filtering equipment "used by the Russian government to restrict access to information" is also cited as the reason.

The EU has also imposed personal sanctions against Ivan Zima, whom the organization calls the CEO of Miranda Media and Krymtelecom.

The EU magazine says that Mr. Winter "makes a significant contribution to the efforts of the Russian government to restrict access to legitimate sources of information and introduce censorship measures in Ukraine." Miranda Media declined to comment.

According to SPARK-Interfax, Miranda-Media LLC is 80.001% owned by Krasnodar Luxtrans (the share has been pledged by Bank Rossiya since 2022) and 19.99% by Rostelecom. Mir Telecom and Krymtelecom JSC are 100% owned by Miranda Media. Former vice president of Rostelecom Ivan Zima became the head of Miranda-Media in May 2022, and in November he became the head of Krymtelecom, Cnews wrote. However, on December 15, 2023, Interfax reported that Igor Zizhikin was appointed CEO of Miranda Media, although Mr. Winter's dismissal was not announced.

In addition to telecom operators, a number of Russian IT companies have also been sanctioned by the EU: JSC NIP Informzashita, LLC Secure Information Zone (BI.ZONE) and JSC Infotex. Informzashchita did not comment on the situation.

Judging by the explanations, one of the key criteria for including both IT companies and telecom operators in the blacklists was the availability of state licenses. For example, in the explanations for Mir Telecom it is said that the company has received "ten licenses for the provision of various telecommunications services", there is a similar remark in relation to Krymtelecom. About BI.ZONE, Informzashita and Infotex, it is said that the companies have FSB licenses for the development of cryptographic tools and the provision of encryption services (such licenses are required by any company to supply IT solutions to the public sector).