This Wednesday, March 20, Microsoft made its cloud service unavailable in Russia to comply with a new package of sanctions from the European Union. Other tech giants offering similar services should soon follow the same path.
10, 11, and now 12. On December 18, the European Union already adopted its 12e group of sanctions against Russia, in response to its invasion of Ukraine which began more than two years ago. Among the new measures, companies offering cloud services will now be prohibited from operating in Russia if they wish to remain in the European market.
While this may seem insignificant compared to sanctions targeting sectors like energy, it still has the potential to seriously hamper activities based on it. Above all, it is an opportunity for many Western firms to walk their talk.
Microsoft Cloud unavailable
Russian users of Western cloud services will have had little time to adapt. Barely a week ago, the IT company Softline, from the country, created a Telegram channel for its customers to inform and advise them about the upcoming closure, today, of Microsoft Cloud . If the date is not yet known, Amazon and Google should do the same soon.
The director of Basalt SPO, a Russian software developer, told Windows Report that “ domestic businesses that paid for such foreign services lacked foresight. There was always the risk that access to them would be cut off, and that is what happened. This is a real problem for organizations that have not yet moved to domestic services and providers. » It is indeed hard to believe the catastrophe that this could represent for a society which relies on such services and loses its access to them overnight.
Wasn’t that already the case?
However, while such a measure could seriously annoy parts of the Russian economy, it is quite unlikely that it will change anything for Ukrainians or shake the resolve of the Russian president re-elected this weekend. Indeed, this ultimately seems quite minor compared to other previous measures, particularly with regard to gas supplies.
The real change, ultimately, concerns more the service providers concerned, who are now forced to keep their word. Microsoft, for example, explained in March 2022 its intention to stop selling its products and services in the country. And this, despite the cyberattacks carried out by Russian hackers against him.
It took until August 2023 for the company to no longer renew Microsoft 365 subscriptions, and therefore March 2024 for its cloud services.
Sources: Windows Central, Windows Report
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