(Moscow) The Kremlin denounced on Friday “unfair competition” from Washington after the announcement the day before of the ban on Russian antivirus software Kaspersky in the United States, which accuses the cybersecurity giant of being close to Moscow, which the company denies.
It is “the United States’ preferred technique of unfair competition. They use it every time,” criticized the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
“Kaspersky Lab is a very internationally competitive company that, in many respects, outperforms its competitors,” he defended during his daily press briefing.
On Thursday, the US Commerce Department announced it would “ban” Kaspersky from selling its software in the United States “for their cooperation with Russian military and intelligence authorities.”
This announcement comes at a time when tensions between Moscow and Washington are very high due to the conflict in Ukraine, which the United States has supported militarily and financially since the Russian assault in February 2022.
This decision “is vital for our internal security”, justified the American Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, on Thursday.
Washington has given Kaspersky’s American customers until September 29 to find an alternative.
Kaspersky Lab, for its part, condemned a decision “taken on the basis of the current geopolitical climate and theoretical fears” which “benefits cybercrime”.
For years, she has denied any direct proximity to the Russian authorities, despite suspicions.
Karspersky “has repeatedly demonstrated its independence from any government” and the United States has “ignored this evidence,” the group said in a statement, which specifies that its information services on the world of cybersecurity are not not affected by Washington’s decision.
The company, one of the world’s leading names in IT security, plans to challenge the decision in court.
The multinational Kaspersky provides antivirus and other cybersecurity products and services to more than 400 million users and 270,000 businesses worldwide, according to Washington.
Its flagship software had already been banned from use within American federal agencies in 2017 and several European countries have also expressed their concern about this cybersecurity juggernaut.
The United States is also threatening to ban TikTok, a very popular Chinese social network, but suspected of manipulation and spying on American users by Beijing.