11 Russians removed from Linux kernel software development project over alleged “compliance requirements”

RU

11 Russian programmers have been removed from the list of Linux kernel developers, according to a report by OpenNET, a Russian news website about free and open source software. The names of the Russian programmers were removed from the list of project maintainers — key developers responsible for overseeing a specific area of the Linux kernel.

The changes were made by Greg Kroah-Hartman, a major Linux kernel developer responsible for the maintenance of the software’s stable versions. He cited compliance with “various compliance requirements” as the reason for the removal. The changes were implemented on Oct. 18.

“Remove some entries due to various compliance requirements. They can come back in the future if sufficient documentation is provided,” Kroah-Hartman explained in a comment on the maintainer file changes. However, he did not clarify what specific documentation was needed or which legal requirements were being referenced.

Other developers expressed concerns over the lack of clarity in Kroah-Hartman’s decision. Key Linux kernel developer Geert Uytterhoeven responded to the edit by saying the explanation was “very vague”:

“This is very vague… What are ‘various compliance requirements’? What does ‘sufficient documentation’ mean? I can guess, but I think it's better to spell out the rules, as Linux kernel development is done ‘in the open.’ I am also afraid this is opening the door for further (ab)use.”

Wolfram Sang, another Linux kernel developer, agreed with Uytterhoeven. Other project participants pointed out that Kroah-Hartman’s changes contradicted the principles of transparency.

On Oct. 20, the changes were submitted to Linux creator Linus Torvalds as part of other updates. Unlike with usual updates, however, the changes to the maintainer list were not reviewed by other developers, which caused notable discontent within the open-source community. Nikita Shubin, a Russian Linux developer — not among those removed — stated that Kroah-Hartman had chosen “the worst and most dishonest way” to handle the situation, adding that the names of the Russians were not even moved to the credits section to acknowledge their past contributions to the project.

An open-source developer familiar with the situation told The Insider that while the removal complicates the work of the affected developers, they can still contribute to the project and propose changes to the code. The MAINTAINERS file, which was altered by Kroah-Hartman, is a formal list of individuals responsible for specific code segments, but there are other tools available to manage contributions and determine responsibility.

The source noted that existing procedures do not outright prohibit the removed Russians from reinstating themselves in the list at some future time. Other Linux kernel developers can also reinstate them.

During the discussion, a developer with the username WangYuli reported that Greg Kroah-Hartman had responded to his message “privately” — not in the usual open thread, as is typically done in the community. WangYuli shared Kroah-Hartman’s response:

“Sorry, but that's not how this is allowed to work. Please contact your company lawyers if you have any questions about this. And this only affects maintainers, as you aren't listed in the MAINTAINERS file, there should not be any issue, but again, contact your company if you have any questions as they know what is going on. Just *wink* if you were compelled into this.”

The following developers were removed:

• Nikita Travkin (Acer Aspire drivers) — email listed on a Russian domain;
• Ivan Kokshaysky (Alpha architecture port) — email listed on the Moscow State University domain;
• Alexander Shiyan (ARM/CIRRUS LOGIC CLPS711X port) — email listed on mail.ru;
• Sergey (Serge) Semin (Baikal processor and other projects) — email listed on gmail.com;
• Dmitry Kozlov (various drivers) — email listed on mail.ru;
• Sergey Shylev (various drivers) — email listed on the domain of the “Open Mobile Platform,” a Russian company developing the first Russian mobile operating system, Aurora;
• Sergey Kozlov (various drivers) — email listed on the domain of Russian company NetUP;
• Abulay Ospan (various drivers) — email listed on the domain of Russian company NetUP;
• Dmitry Rokosov (drivers for Emsensing Microsystems) — email listed on the domain of Sber Devices (a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned Sberbank);
• Vladimir Georgiev (drivers for Microchip Polarfire) — email listed on the domain of Russian equipment manufacturer Metrotek;
• Evgeny Dushistov (UFS system) — email listed on mail.ru.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on the sale and provision of IT services and software to Russia in June 2024. These sanctions came into effect in September, leading services including Miro, ClickUp, Coda, Wix, and Hubspot to announce that they would no longer serve Russian customers (although the sanctions package itself did not explicitly require such a step). The concerns of the Linux kernel maintainers may also be tied to the sanctions package. While Linux itself is not a commercial entity — being managed by The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit based in the U.S. — and its contributors come from all over the world, key developers may have felt compelled to participate in the sanctions in some form. However, as pointed out by members of the open-source community, no concrete details regarding this have been provided.

The Insider’s source also speculated that the situation could be linked to external pressure on The Linux Foundation related to sanctions, a detail the organization may be unable or unwilling to disclose. Greg Kroah-Hartman — a key figure in the Linux kernel project — is employed by The Linux Foundation.

In early October, IT company ABBYY dismissed all of its Russian employees from its offices in Cyprus, Hungary, and Serbia. As one laid-off employee from the Hungarian office told The Insider, the company’s Russian developers were finalizing the new version of the flagship product, Vantage 3.0, which will now lack developer support during the post-launch phase. The dismissals were attributed to concerns that ABBYY's products, which involve the recognition and digitization of paper documents, could contain sensitive information of clients in the West, particularly in the U.S.