The US Treasury Department announced an agreement with Microsoft whereby the tech giant has agreed to pay about $3 million to settle potential civil liability for 1,339 apparent sanction violations, most of which were related to blocked Russian entities.

The Treasury Department issued a statement that said the sanction violations were related to restrictions on Cuba, Iran, Syria and Russia over the exportation of services or software from the US to “sanctioned jurisdictions and to specially designated nationals or blocked persons.”

It noted the majority of the apparent violations were related to blocked Russian entities or persons located in the Crimea region of Ukraine that “occurred as a result of the Microsoft entities’ failure to identify and prevent the use of its products by prohibited parties.”

It stated the conduct of Microsoft “was non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed, and further reflects the significant remedial measures Microsoft undertook upon discovery”.

Microsoft suspended all new sales of products and services in Russia in March 2022.