Questioned earlier this week by Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation in Ukraine, who had asked Sony and Microsoft to block all Russian accounts to show the absurdity of the war waged by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Microsoft has finally reacted. In one
official statement, the American giant says it is horrified and angry at this conflict of unprecedented violence and has decided in turn to immediately suspend the sale of its products and other services in Russia. It’s unclear what Microsoft means by new sales, but it’s pretty obvious that it should encompass Surface tablets, Xbox Series X|S consoles, Windows operating system, not to mention the Azure cloud solution. Will this harm the Russian economy, the fact remains that the gesture is strong, knowing that other players are also showing up on their side. Apple, for example, which is also suspending sales of its products, while Gran Turismo 7 was no longer available for purchase on the Russian PlayStation Store.
We are announcing today that we are suspending all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia. Additionally, we are working together and closely with the governments of the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom, and are shutting down many aspects of our business in Russia in accordance with government sanctions orders.
We believe we are most effective in helping Ukraine when we take concrete action, in coordination with the decisions taken by these governments, and we will take additional action as this situation continues to evolve. Our most impactful area of work is arguably the protection of Ukraine’s cybersecurity.
We continue to work proactively to help cybersecurity officials in Ukraine defend against Russian attacks, including most recently a cyberattack on a major Ukrainian broadcaster.
