Iconic computer font Times New Roman has become the latest victim of Western sanctions against Russia, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday.
U.S. company Monotype Imaging, which hold the rights to such fonts as Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, and Times New Roman, reportedly refused to sell Russian developers usage of the font on the Astra Linux operating system.
The firm said that U.S. government sanctions did not allow them to work with companies that have dealings with Russian Ministry of Defense.
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The Astra Linux operating system is currently used by a number of top Kremlin departments, including the Defense Ministry, the Federal Security Service, the Federal Protection Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Federal Customs Service, and the Ministry of Health.
Developers are now working to create fully-compatible substitute fonts, Kommersant reported.
Times New Roman remains the standard font required in the majority of official government documents, the newspaper said.
U.S. sanctions against the Kremlin and various Russian companies are set to continue until the end of 2017, U.S. President Barack Obama announced in March.
The measures, which were first introduced after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, froze the American assets of Kremlin-linked banks and businesses.
Russian counter-sanctions against the import of Western food products are also set to continue until the end of next year.
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