Microsoft is stopping sales of all of its products in Russia, including Xbox and Windows, in response to its recent and ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“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,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft president and vice chair, in a blog post on Microsoft’s website. “We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.”
Smith said the company is also working “in lockstep” with the U.S. government along with the European Union and the United Kingdom while stopping many aspects of its business in Russia “in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.”
“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,” said Smith. “Our single most impactful area of work almost certainly is 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 against a major Ukrainian broadcaster.”
Microsoft’s main competitor in the gaming space, Sony, revealed it was pulling sales of the new release Gran Turismo 7 in Russia this morning. Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red also announced it would be stopping sales in Russia.
“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,” said Smith. “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.”
A representative of the Ukrainian government called on both Microsoft and Sony to stop sales in Russia on March 2, asking them to leave the Russian market if they “support human values.”
