"Altai engages in foreign trade strictly in line with Russian legislation, and has not received any official explanations from U.S. authorities regarding the new regime of sanctions," a company official said Friday.

Earlier, a Tass correspondent in Washington reported that U.S. authorities had changed the legal grounds for the sanctions against Altai.

The force of sanctions, introduced in July on the strength of two laws on export control, expired on November 18, but the USA promptly extended them, this time under two presidential decrees.

The essence of the accusations against the Russian company has not undergone any changes. The USA continues to suspect it of actions conductive to the proliferation of missile technologies.

All U.S. government bodies and organizations are prohibited from concluding contacts with Altai during the next two years or provide any financial assistance to it. A similar ban is placed on the issue of export/import licenses or permits.

The U.S. Department of State did not elaborate on the reasons behind the change in the legal basis for the sanctions. When they were introduced in July, U.S. diplomats made assurances that the sanctions were only aimed against a specific company, as they said is always the case, not against Russia in general.

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