Haas denies helping Russia to make weapons

Gene Haas, owner of the American Formula 1 team that bears his name, has found himself at the centre of a controversy relating to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

That is despite the fact that team boss Gunther Steiner ousted both Nikita Mazepin and his Putin-linked father Dmitry from the F1 team at the outbreak of the concept over a year ago.

"I don’t need any of this," Steiner was heard saying in Drive To Survive.

"I’m done with Russians until I go from this planet."

But Newshour, an evening news program on the American public broadcaster PBS, alleges that 70-year-old Gene Haas’ machine tool company Haas Automation may in fact be in violation of sanctions designed to "choke Russia’s war effort against Ukraine".

Correspondent Simon Ostrovsky said a key Russian weapons manufacturer RATEP builds guidance systems for anti-aircraft weapons "using equipment made by California-based industrial manufacturing giant Haas Automation".

Citing US government documents, he said the relationship "may represent a breach of American sanctions".

"We were surprised that, even now, one year after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Haas Automation is continuing its direct shipments to Russia," said Denys Hutyk, who is on Ukraine’s economic security council.

PBS also alleges that Haas actually supplies "multiple Russian weapons manufacturers" with similar machines.

Haas Automation denies the charges.

"Haas no longer supplies machines, replacement parts, or anything else to any companies in Russia," said vice-president Peter Zierhut. "Statements to the contrary are false."

Haas F1 Team Statement

On Tuesday, March 14, PBS ran a story alleging that our team partner, Haas Automation, had directly provided machines and parts to Russia in violation of U.S. export control and sanctions regulations.

As per Haas Automation’s company statement - that story is simply false, both in its overall impression and in many of its particular statements.

Key Points:

• Haas Automation is and has always been in full compliance with U.S. Government export control.
• No machines have shipped from the Haas Automation factory to Russia since March 3, 2022.
• The 18 machines referenced in the story left the Haas Automation factory prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Haas Automation voluntarily chose to terminate its relationship with the Russian distributor, which has never been required by any U.S. sanctions.
• Haas Automation completely supports Ukraine and its people in their defense against Russia.

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. 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.

Haas Automation has been manufacturing machines for more than 30 years, and there are more than 200,000 Haas machines currently in use throughout the world. Throughout that period, Haas has been a strict adherent to all U.S. export control and sanctions regulations, and an even stronger supporter of the U.S. policy goals many of those regulations are designed to address.