Kaspersky Lab: we're a pawn in feud between US and Russia

Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab said on Wednesday it had fallen victim to geopolitical sparring between Russia and the United States, but said it was ready to respond to any questions from US officials, the RIA news agency reported.

The Trump administration on Tuesday removed Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab from two lists of approved vendors used by government agencies to purchase technology equipment, amid concerns its products could be used by the Kremlin to gain entry into US networks.

"By all appearances, Kaspersky Lab happened to be dragged into a geopolitical fight where each side is trying to use the company as a pawn in its game," RIA quoted the company's press service as saying.

Company head Eugene Kaspersky has more than once proposed meeting US government officials and has offered to testify to the US Congress "to respond to all questions from the US government that may arise", the press service was cited as saying.

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)