There are multiple sanctions programs, and at least in the US, for the sanctions program which Huawei is in, there is an exception for conversations and patches that take place in a public mailing list, such as LKML.

I guess evil ruski developers are having gremlins secretly commit their patches while Linus is fast asleep.

Somewhere else Linus Torvalds flew off the handle. Calling people Russian shills, paid actors etc. To justify his anger, he held up his heritage and said "I'm Finnish".