From the MT:
“U.S. Fines Amazon for Crimea
Orders”
The U.S. has fined Amazon for
providing goods and services to individuals in Crimea, in violation of U.S.
sanctions which prohibit firms from operating on the annexed peninsula. The
technology giant was also found to have sold goods to customers based in Iran
and Syria, processed orders to people located or employed by embassies of Cuba,
Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, and sold items to individuals sanctioned by
the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC). In
total, Amazon was fined $134,523 for the violations, which occurred between
2011 and 2018. Businesses face hefty penalties for operating on the Crimean
peninsula, following its annexation by Russia in 2014 — a move deemed illegal
by much of the international community and which resulted in the U.S., EU and
other western countries placing stringent sanctions on Russia and barring firms
from being active or investing on the peninsula. Amazon said shoppers had been
able to get round its automatic sanctions screening software by putting
spelling errors in their addresses, such as “Krimea.” Amazon also processed
orders where customers put their city and region as “Yalta,” as Amazon’s system
didn’t realize the city was in Crimea. The fine amounts to 50% of the value of
goods sold in violation of the various sanctions regimes. OFAC determined that since
Amazon voluntarily disclosed the violations, and that they were deemed
“non-egregious,” often for low-value goods, it would refrain from a steeper
penalty. On paper, the violations carried a potential maximum fine of more than
$1 billion. In its decision issued Wednesday, OFAC said the case should prompt
other large multinational tech companies and e-commerce platforms to ensure
their sanctions compliance is “commensurate with the speed and scale of their
business operations” — in particular, by being able to weed out common
misspellings or transliterations of names and cities which Amazon’s automatic
software did not catch.
^ 6 years after Russia invaded,
occupied and illegally annexed Crimea you would think International Companies
like Amazon would know better. The United Nations does not recognize Crimea as
being Russian. It recognizes Crimea as Ukrainian. The United States, the
European Union, the UK, Canada, Japan, Australia and many other countries
around the world have had International Sanctions against Russia and another
Country or Individual that has any dealings inside occupied Crimea. Russia and
Ukraine had International Treaties and Agreements with itself with respect to
their two countries (including Crimea):
1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances , 1997 Partition Treaty
on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet , 1997 Treaty on
Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership Between the Russian Federation and
Ukraine , 2003 Treaty Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on Cooperation
in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait and the 2010 Kharkiv Pact.
Russia not only violated International Laws and it’s International Treaties and
Agreements when it invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014, but it also violated
Russian Laws. While the people living in annexed Crimea continue to suffer
because of the actions of Putin the Russians living in Russia also continue to
suffer from his actions. It is thanks to the International Sanctions and the
punishments and fines associated with them that Putin and the ordinary Russians
are reminded daily of their illegal actions on innocent men, women and children
in Crimea, Ukraine. While Putin no longer has the strong support of the Russian
people he continues to stay in power (and has recently extended his “legal”
right to remain President) because Russians would rather have a Dictator they
know then a Dictator they don’t. That was been part of the Russian mentality in
Czarist Times, in Soviet Times and continues today. Some people may say that 6
years have passed since Russian illegally-annexed Crimea and that we should simply
forget about it and move on. That is just plain dumb. The Soviet Union
illegally-annexed Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia from 1940-1990 (50 years) and
finally admitted their mistake in 1990 and allowed those countries to leave the
USSR and regain their independence. The United States and many other countries
never acknowledged the Soviet Annexation of the Baltics and so whether it has
been 6 years or 50 years doesn’t matter. Until Crimea is returned to Ukraine
and the Russians stop fighting the Donbas (eastern Ukraine) the International
Sanctions against Russia should be continued. ^
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/09/us-fines-amazon-for-crimea-orders-a70831
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