Microsoft Stops Russia Sales Due To Ukraine Invasion

“Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post.

Microsoft will halt new sales of products and services in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, the tech giant announced Friday.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company is also “working in lockstep” with the United States, European Union and United Kingdom to stop parts of the business in Russia to comply with government sanctions, Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post.

“Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia,” Smith said.

[RELATED: 10 Tech Giants That Have Cut Ties With Russia After Ukraine Invasion]

He continued: “We believe we are most effective in aiding Ukraine when we take concrete steps in coordination with the decisions being made by these governments and we will take additional steps as this situation continues to evolve.”

Microsoft has worked to protect Ukraine’s cybersecurity during the attack. The company recently defended a “major Ukrainian broadcaster” against an attack, according to the post.

“Since the war began, we have acted against Russian positioning, destructive or disruptive measures against more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT and financial sector organizations,” according to the post. We have also acted against cyberattacks targeting several additional civilian sites. We have publicly raised our concerns that these attacks against civilians violate the Geneva Convention.”

Phil Walker, CEO of Network Solutions Provider, a Microsoft partner based in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and member of CRN’s 2022 Managed Service Provider 500, told CRN in an interview that he is glad to see Mcirosoft and other tech vendors stand up for Ukraine.

“It shows that they’re paying attention,” Walker said.

Accenture, Hewlett-Packard and others have condemned the Russian attack and taken steps to decrease their presence in the country.

Cloud search company Elastic also will no longer sell products to companies in Russia while making search and security products free for organizations in Ukraine, according to a statement.