“Remove some entries due to various compliance requirements. They can come back in the future if sufficient documentation is provided.”
That two-line comment, submitted by major Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman, accompanied a patch that removed about a dozen names from the kernle’s MAINTAINERS file. “Some entries” notably had either Russian names or .ru email addresses. “Various compliance requirements” was, in this case, sanctions against Russia and Russian companies, stemming from that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
This merge did not go unnoticed. Replies on the kernel mailing list asked about this “very vague” patch. Kernel developer James Bottomley wrote that “we” (seemingly speaking for Linux maintainers) had “actual advice” from Linux Foundation counsel. Employees of companies on the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (OFAC SDN), or connected to them, will have their collaborations “subject to restrictions,” and “cannot be in the MAINTAINERS