International Business Stands by Ukraine, and You?

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Irina Turchanova Content Writer

The world shuddered on 24th of February, 2022, when russian troops crossed Ukraine’s borders and started the full-scale military invasion. 

From the very beginning, Ukraine was not alone – the international community was not silent. We get constant support from our partners, be it humanitarian help, military or finances. What we see now is that major market players in different business areas are ending decades of cooperation with Russia and Belarus. 

We have collected the list of companies in finance, retail, media and entertainment,  technology, and tourism to thank them and to help other businesses with branches, offices or affiliates in Russia and Belarus make the only possible choice – cut off the aggressor. 

Many global companies have already responded to Russia’s aggression by cutting the country off from their products, services, and systems. 

For example, leading platforms are blocking Russian state-run media. Facebook and Google banned them from running adverts or monetizing content. Let’s have a bigger picture of international business that supports Ukraine. 

Finance 

Visa and Mastercard have suspended all of their operations in Russia. It will end all Visa transactions within its borders, and Visa cards issued in Russia will no longer work outside of the country. In addition, all Visa cards worldwide “will no longer work within the Russian Federation,” Visa said. 

American Express said in a statement that globally issued American Express cards will no longer work in Russia, and cards issued in Russia won’t work outside the country. The company also said it is ending its business operations in Belarus. 

PayPal also shuts down its services in Russia joining many other financial companies. 

Retail 

Ikea, the world’s largest furniture company, is closing its 17 stores in Russia. The company said the conflict has a huge human impact and is “resulting in serious disruptions to supply chain and trading conditions.” In addition to pausing its retail and manufacturing operations in Russia, it will suspend all trade with the country and its ally, Belarus.

H&M has also announced it is temporarily suspending all sales in Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Some other brands that have suspended their operations in Russia and Belarus: Adidas, Puma, Chanel, Prada Luxury fashion house, and more. 

Technology 

AMD and Intel will halt all chip sales to Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine.  

IBM announced the termination of sales of its technology to Russia. The company underlined that it “does not do business with Russian military organizations.”  

Nvidia spokesperson commented: ‘We are not selling into Russia’. This suspension refers to all company products. 

Read also: Is it reasonable to hire Ukrainian developers in 2022? Read more

Apple has stopped selling its products in Russia. The tech giant said in a statement that it was “deeply concerned” about the Russian invasion. In response, the company has also moved to limit access to digital services, such as Apple Pay, inside Russia, and restricted the availability of Russian state media applications outside the country.

PwC has decided to cut its Russian firm from its global network, affecting 3,700 partners and staff in the country.

Cisco American manufacturer is stopping all business operations in Russia and Belarus and will continue to focus on supporting its Ukrainian employees, customers and partners while providing humanitarian aid and accelerating its efforts to protect organizations in Ukraine from cyber threats. “We stand with Ukraine and condemn this unjustified war.”

AWS cloud division said on March 8 it would halt new sign-ups for the service in Russia. The company has already had a “long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government” and does not have data centers, infrastructure or offices in Russia, the company said in a blog post.

“AWS has clear terms of service where if a customer is using AWS services to threaten, incite, promote, or actively encourage violence, terrorism, or other serious harm, they will not be permitted to use our services,” Amazon said. “Any customer we know of who is participating in this type of behavior will have their access to AWS suspended.

Google has removed Russian state-funded media, including RT, from its news-related features and the Google News search tool. It also paused Russian state media services’ ability to monetize through Google Ads on its websites and apps. Google Pay, the company’s digital wallet, blocked several Russian financial institutions from its network. 

GoDaddy ceased supporting new registrations for domains with the .ru extension.

Microsoft is suspending all new product sales, including Xbox consoles, and Apple is suspending all product sales in Russia. 

Oracle suspended its operations and SAP stopped its products and services sales in the country.

Media and Entertainment 

Spotify said it has closed its office in Russia “indefinitely” and restricted shows “owned and operated by Russian state-affiliated media.” The streaming service removed all content from RT and Sputnik in Europe and other regions, a company spokesman said.

Netflix said it will be suspending its streaming service in Russia.”Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” a Netflix spokesperson told CNN. 

Disney is also suspending the release of its theatrical films in Russia, citing “the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.” The entertainment giant had multiple films set for release in Russia in the coming months. That includes Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” on May 5 and Pixar’s “Lightyear” on June 16.

TikTok also limits services in Russia. The service had suspended live streaming and new content from its platform as it assesses tough new laws to crack down on “fake news” about Russia’s armed forces.

Tourism 

Expedia, Tripadvisor, and Airbnb are suspending all operations to and from Russia and Belarus. 

This list is not final, of course. Even now, while publishing this article, more and more companies refuse, shut, withdraw and terminate their business with the Russian aggressor. It’s inspiring to see how international businesses unite their forces and stand for Ukrainian people, democracy, and freedom. 

You can check more details about how we do business and live during wartime.  

Conclusion

We are very grateful to the international businesses community for such great, valuable support. We strongly believe every big and small business will terminate relations with the Russian and Belarus aggressors in the nearest future, bringing mutual victory day close. 

With deep appreciation to all supporters! 

Glory to Ukraine! 

About the author

Irina Turchanova Content Writer

Irina is a Creative Writer with 10+ years of experience within the software development domain. She is keen on everything tech and gets easily inspired, follows all the recent IT-related trends, and loves creating interesting content for the CHI Software blog, and social media.