Microsoft is ‘suspending all sales’ of products and services in Russia

Microsoft has announced that it will stop selling products and services in Russia.

In a new statement by Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith, the announcement was made that Microsoft will no longer do business in the nation while it continues to invade 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,” Smith said.

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

Smith added: “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.”

The news follows Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister calling on Xbox and PlayStation to temporarily end support in the Russian and Belarusian markets.

In an open letter published on Twitter, Mykhailo Fedorov called on the platform holders to “block all Russian and Belorussian accounts, temporarily stop the participation of Russian and Belorussian teams and gamers in all international esports events”.

Microsoft’s move is the latest in a series of decisions made by tech and video game companies to distance themselves from Russia and support Ukraine.

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Ukraine calls on Xbox and PlayStation to end support in Russia

The publishers have yet to respond

Sony Interactive Entertainment has quietly pulled Gran Turismo 7‘s Russian release – the game was scheduled for a worldwide release today, but it’s currently unavailable to buy digitally via the Russian PlayStation Store, which lists its release date as “pending confirmation”.

Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher maker CD Projekt has also halted the sale of its games in Russia and Belarus “until further notice”, while EA is removing Russian and Belarusian teams from FIFA 22 and NHL 22.

The Pokémon Company announced on Thursday that it would be donating $200,000 to provide humanitarian support in Ukraine.