Report: F1 Team Sponsor Linked to Russian Army. Again.

Haas Automation, which sponsors a Formula 1 team, has erstwhile again been accused of shady connections to Russia.

A PBS study suggests that Haas Automation has been supplying "several sanctioned enterprises successful the Russian arms industry" with precision machining tools. If that's true, the Oxnard, California-based institution would beryllium violating American sanctions connected Russia.

PBS cites documents filed with the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Treasury precocious successful February. Those documents were filed by the Economic Security Council of Ukraine (ESCU) and allege that Haas is moving the Russian arms manufacture and with Abamet Management LTD. Abamet is alleged to person bought instrumentality from Haas and past sold it to sanctioned Russian entities.

Denys Hutyk, a advisor with the ESCU, says that Russia published the procurements and it was capable to hint things from there. The ESCU besides utilized customs records.

Haas besides supplies the U.S. military. Equipment produced by Haas is said to beryllium overmuch amended astatine precision machining than Russian equipment.

Haas, for its part, denies this. From a Haas release:

PBS pushes back, saying it reviewed customs records that showed shipments continued good past the opening of Russia's penetration of Ukraine. PBS says it recovered astatine slightest 18 shipments from Haas straight to Russia betwixt March 4, 2022, and October 2022. The shipments were worthy a full of $2.8 million.

PBS notes that whether sanctions are successful spot oregon not, Russia's arms manufacture is reliant connected instrumentality and exertion supplied by different nations. A Ukrainian authorities assemblage that sets authorisation argumentation for that federation believes different Western companies, specified arsenic Germany's Siemens, are besides providing instrumentality to Russia.

Back to Haas -- Hutyk believes that the institution is continuing to support the instrumentality via bundle updates and with spare parts, and Haas should've known it was selling worldly that would beryllium utilized successful Russian subject plants.

This isn't the archetypal contention involving Haas and the Russian penetration of Ukraine -- the Haas-sponsored F1 squad dropped operator Dmitry Mazepin and sponsor Uralkali past twelvemonth aft Russia invaded Ukraine.

[Image: Haas Racing]

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