On 25th March, The Federal Communications Commision (FCC) added Russia’s AP Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom Corp and China Mobile International USA to its list of communications equipment and service providers deemed threat to national security under a 2019 law.

Last year, the FCC added five Chinese companies Huawei Technologies Co, Hytera Communications Corp, ZTE Corp, Dahua Technology Co.and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. to their national security threat list.

It is for the first time that the US has included a Russian entity to the US national security threat list. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said, “The new designations will help secure our networks from threats posed by Chinese and Russian state backed entities seeking to engage in espionage and otherwise harm America’s interests.”

Kaspersky said in a statement that it was disappointed by the FCC decision and it was “made on political grounds.” The company said that the action was “unsubstantiated and is a response to the geopolitical climate rather than a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services.”