Microsoft will block Russian companies’ access to more than 50 cloud services, including the Microsoft Teams video conferencing software and the Microsoft 365 suite of collaboration tools.
The ban is not a political move on Microsoft’s part;The company was forced out by economic sanctions imposed by the European Union to Russian companies in the wake of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The move comes this week after the company held discussions with IT platform Softline, one of its customers.
Microsoft shared the news with Softline and stated that this was the case “(Obligation) to comply with the economic laws and regulations of the EU and all other jurisdictions in which the company operates.”
Softline issued a press release last week saying that the company has “all the necessary resources” to ensure a smooth transition from Microsoft and Amazon services to its own infrastructure.
It is still too early to say whether the sanctions will be effective in forcing Russia to withdraw from the conflict: for example, they could simply increase the popularity of local cloud and IT providers among companies and spur their expansion.
