The Biden administration on Thursday said it would ban the sale of antivirus software made by Russia's Kaspersky Lab in the US, citing what it said was the Kremlin's influence over the company which poses a significant security risk.

Announcing the ban, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters that "Russia has shown it has the capacity and, the intent to exploit Russian companies like Kaspersky to collect and weaponize the personal information of Americans".

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Kaspersky was a "very competitive" company on international markets and that Washington's decision to restrict its sales was a "favourite technique of unfair competition from the US."

Kaspersky, which has said it will pursue legal options to try to preserve its operations, has said it believes the US decision was not based on "a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky's products and services" and that its activities did not threaten US national security.

The company has said it is privately managed and has no links to the Russian government.

--Reuters--