As a result of the recent developments in Europe between Russia and Ukraine, a lot of sanctions were imposed on Russia by the West, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Given the circumstances, only a handful of Russian alliances were against the sanctions, and as a result, many companies decided to leave the country, or stop sales of products and services.

The list of companies that left Russia is exceptionally long. It would be difficult to list them all in a single article, since many small and medium-sized businesses didn’t publicly state their stance, and even some major retailers only announced their operations on social media. We decided to focus on major and most popular retailers and services that have, or had a significant presence and user base in the country. We focused primarily on technology companies, and included some from the entertainment field.


Company

Action(s) Taken

Adobe

Stopped all new sales and services in Russia, including Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, and more. The company also suspended its website analytics tools from working in the country.

Airbnb

The room-rental service has suspended all operations in both Russia and Belarus, and it offered housing for up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

Alphabet / Google

Alphabet is the parent company of Google. Google suspended all of its advertising businesses in Russia, including ad revenue from YouTube, search, and everywhere else. Google Maps also disabled certain features to protect civilians. Google also suspended Google Pay services, YouTube Premium and Super Chats. The company also removed a few Russian news media publishers, and Google Cloud stopped accepting new customers from Russia.

Amazon

The e-commerce giant suspended all shipments and retail products to customers in both Russia and Belarus.

Apple

The tech giant stopped selling all of its Apple products in Russia, and it stopped Apple Pay transactions in the country. Apple also disabled Apple Maps features to protect civilians.

AWS

Amazon Web Services does not have data centers and offices in Russia, but it no longer allows anyone from Russia or Belarus to sign up for its services.

Bumble

The dating app suspended its operations in Russia, and it removed its apps from the App Store and Google Play Store in both Russia and Belarus.

Discord

Popular messaging application Discord has also suspended some of its paid features in Russia. Users can no longer purchase or subscribe to the paid services, and Russian payment methods are no longer accepted. The standard/free version of Discord remains accessible in the country.

Disney

The entertainment and media giant suspended all theatrical releases in Russia, including new Pixar films, and it paused content and product licensing.

EA

Electronic Arts, the popular video game publisher, announced that it will suspend selling copies of its games in Russia and Belarus. The suspension includes games, add-ons, virtual currencies, loot boxes, and more. EA also removed Russian national teams from its football and hockey games, and it no longer allows Russian and Belurasian players into its esports programs.

Epic Games

Epic Games, the Epic Store, and Fortnite maker announced that it would stop commerce with Russia. From March 21 to April 3rd, the Epic Store donated all processes from in-game sales, including cosmetic and virtual currencies to aid humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. The company raised more than $50m.

Fujitsu

The Japanese technology company ceased all new orders and deliveries of products and services to Russia. The company also suspended operations of its service center located in the country.

Hitachi

The Japanese industrial company announced that it was suspending exports to Russia and paused all manufacturing.

IBM

The computer and technology company suspended all of its business in Russia, and offered support for IBM-employed refugees.

Intel

The chip giant suspended all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus.

LG

LG suspended all shipments to Russia on March 19.

Microsoft

Microsoft suspended the sales of its products and services in Russia, and helped Ukraine improve itself from cybersecurity threats.

Meta / formerly Facebook

Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc. owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Oculus. Russia banned Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram when things started to escalate in March, but WhatsApp remains to be available in the country.

Netflix

The popular streaming service paused all projects, filming, and acquisitions in Russia, and it refused to add channels, backed by the Russian government.

Nintendo

The video game company suspended its e-shop for Russian users, and all users are unable to purchase any more games using the service.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA reportedly suspended all sales and shipments in Russia.

Samsung

The smartphone giant announced that it would suspend its shipments to Russia as of March 4.

Slack

The popular corporate communications software announced that it has revoked organizations’ access to Slack. Salesforce, the parent company of Slack, also announced that it would end its other business relationships in Russia.

Snapchat

The messaging platform announced that it would halt all advertising sales in Russia and Belarus, although its application and other services will remain available.

Sony

The movie studio department of Sony announced that it would stop all theatrical releases in Russia. On March 9, Sony Interactive Entertainment also suspended all hardware and software shipments, and it halt the launch of Gran Turismo 8, and all PlayStation Store operations in Russia. Sony Music also suspended operations in the country.

Spotify

The music-streaming platform suspended all of its operations in Russia from early April.

TikTok

On March 6, the video platform announced that it would suspend live streaming and new content uploads to the video service in Russia.

Twitch

The game-streaming platform announced that it would suspend transactions and payments of all types in the country.

Uber

The ride-hailing service announced that it would “accelerate” its divestment from the Russian internet company Yandex.

Ubisoft

The game maker announced that it would suspend sales in Russia, and help Ukrainian employees find alternative housing in neighboring countries, and set up an emergency hotline to help provide support and aid.

Universal

The studio will suspend releases in Russia, although the company didn’t list what films would be affected.

Warner Bros.

The studio announced that it won’t release_The Batman_ in Russia, and it will pause operations in the country.