Following a report published by PBS alleging Haas F1 parent company, Haas Automation, continues to do business with Russia despite sanctions, the American Formula 1 team stated on Thursday that the story is “simply false” and “ignores basic facts.”
American broadcaster PBS broke the story Tuesday, reporting U.S. manufacturer Haas Automation “may be flouting export controls.”
The article accuses the high-tech company of violating control and sanctions regulations by doing business with the Russian arms industry, supplying machines and parts used in the country, drawing attention to documents filed with the U.S. Treasury and the Department of Commerce last month.
In that regard, Haas F1 issued an official statement on Thursday in response to the PBS story.
Among the key points the statement addresses, it begins by asserting the company “does not sell its machines directly to any end-user customers, in Russia or anywhere else.”
It acknowledges the company sells machines to independent distributors, not owned or controlled by Haas Automation, remarking that no machines have been shipped from the Haas factory to Russia since March 3, 2022.
“On March 3, 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Haas Automation terminated, in its entirety, its relationship with its sole existing independent distributor for Russia and Belarus, Abamet Management.
“Ever since that date, Haas has not sold or shipped any machines, parts, or software to Abamet or anyone else in Russia. This crucial fact was made clear to the PBS reporter before the story was aired.
“Additionally, at the time it terminated its relationship with Abamet in March, Haas voluntarily canceled 50 existing machine orders from Abamet, even though such orders may have been permissible under then existing U.S. export control and sanctions regulations.”
Continuing to hit back at the claims against the manufacturer, the company outlines: “If any shipments of Haas manufactured machines or components occurred after March 3, 2022, such shipments were made, unbeknownst to Haas, by Abamet or one of Haas’s numerous other customers around the world.
“Any such shipments would have been made in direct contravention of express Haas policy with regard to Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.”
The PBS report points the investigation they have conducted shows, based on customs records, at least 18 shipments were made to Russia directly from Haas worth $2.8 million from March…
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