Microsoft suspends new sales in Russia

Latest update

This March 23 update builds on our prior reports and summarizes steps that we’ve taken since our last update, on March 4:

  1. Microsoft has now committed over $35 million to support humanitarian assistance and relief efforts for Ukraine. This includes more than $18 million worth of Microsoft technology to help organizations such as the Polish Humanitarian Action respond to critical needs and others providing services on the ground.
  2. Microsoft employee donations are being matched by the company 2:1, resulting in more than $13.5 million raised to date in support of organizations working both within Ukraine and supporting refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. These funds are provided to key NGOs with the mission of helping Ukrainians.
  3. We’ve recently applied our capability with RiskIQ to look “outside in” to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities in Ukrainian government systems. As a result, we provided a list of exposed and vulnerable systems to the Ukrainian government that had unpatched high-impact common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) that could provide a foothold for attackers.
  4. We have deployed cybersecurity technical protections to dozens of targeted organizations in concert with the Ukraine government as well as providing licenses and services that allow organizations in Ukraine the ability to operate by moving critical software services from on-premises servers to the cloud.
  5. Microsoft Disaster Response teams have now worked on or completed 67 projects in less than four weeks to assist groups that are in or helping Ukraine. The team has received over 130 mission requests from government, nonprofit, and commercial organizations assisting those in need and will continue to work through additional requests.
  6. Our Skype team has extended their free calling into and out of Ukraine by another two weeks, already providing over 6.5 million minutes of calls, helping Ukrainians stay in touch with the world.

We are continuing with the suspension of all new sales of products and services in Russia.

These actions add to those we have previously detailed on protection from cyberattacks, protection from state-sponsored disinformation, support for humanitarian aid and protection of our employees.

We will continue to update on our actions via this 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.

I want to use this blog to provide an update on Microsoft’s actions, building on the blog we shared earlier this week.

We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.

In addition, we are coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our 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.

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.

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. 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.

We are also continuing to mobilize our resources to help the people in Ukraine. Our Microsoft Philanthropies and UN Affairs teams are working closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and multiple UN agencies to help refugees by providing technology and financial support for key NGOs and, where needed, we are defending these groups from ongoing cyberattacks.

As a company, we are committed to the safety of our employees in Ukraine and we are in constant contact with them to offer support in many forms, including those who have needed to flee for their lives or safety.

Like so many others, we stand with Ukraine in calling for the restoration of peace, respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and the protection of its people.

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