The note-taking and database service Notion is leaving Russia. It had warned its users three days before the sanctions came into force: all workspaces of clients located in Russia would be closed, paid subscriptions would cease, and access from Russian territory would be prohibited. As an alternative, representatives of the platform suggested exporting the data and looking for another service.
Website builder Wix has also decided to leave the country. “From this date, all sites belonging to residents of the Russian Federation will be removed from publication,” the company said in a statement.
Users had three days to transfer domains to other platforms.
Also, the virtual whiteboard Miro, a former Perm startup, is leaving Russia. Initially, its representatives announced that they would stop providing services not only to Russians, but also to Belarusians, but on August 21 they announced that the ban would not affect those users who connected to the service for free.
At the same time, this is not the first time Miro has announced its exit from the country: in March 2022, the company closed its office in Perm.
Hubspot, a service for marketers, will also begin disabling Russian accounts of customers, partners and regular users. It will also suspend support for applications on Russian versions of online stores.
Corporate messenger Slack, which previously restricted work for Russian accounts, has announced its complete removal.
A similar decision was made by the Coda publishing service, which allowed you to create project maps, charts, work notes and much more.
Another service is ClickUp. The letter sent by its representatives to users in Russia stated that their accounts would be deactivated and that in order to save data, they recommended transferring it to customer accounts located outside the country.
The free online store Ecwid, founded by Russian Ruslan Fazlyev and later sold to a Canadian company, is also leaving Russia. The platform sent a notice to customers about the termination of its work a month in advance. “We are very sorry to have to stop working with you,” the letter continued.
In addition, the supply of several Microsoft products to Russia, including Microsoft Azure, will be halted. The company advised customers to back up their data and stop using the services to avoid being blocked.
The restrictions affected Microsoft 365, EMS, Office 365 and Teams.
Before the sanctions came into force, the Polish mail service GetResponse also sent out corresponding notifications to its users. It left Russia within a day: on August 20, the affiliated department was closed and the service’s website stopped working.
This list also includes an artificial intelligence service for designers, Recraft. Access to it will be closed to both Russian and Belarusian users. The company clarified that it will block profiles never created in these countries. As for subscriptions, they will be automatically cancelled, but the platform promises to refund them.
Google BigQuery, a cloud service that is used to process and analyse large amounts of data, will also be disabling the accounts of Russian users. The platform has been operating in Russia for 10 years. At the same time, Workspace and Google Cloud services will continue to operate.
At the same time, a few days before September 12, the possibility of registering new Gmail accounts using Russian phone numbers disappeared. It is impossible to understand whether this was the result of a package of sanctions, since Google has not made any official statement. The company also did not respond to RG’s request.
“It is unpleasant that people have been using a certain product for many years and it suited them, and now they need to look for a replacement, that is, some inconveniences are likely to arise. I think everyone understands this. With each revolution, the sanctions become more complicated, it is necessary to find ways out, but I think that nothing extraordinary will happen,” TASS editor-in-chief of the IAA Telecom Daily newspaper Denis Kuskov told.
The chairman of the board of the Digital Economy Development Fund, German Klimenko, sees no point in overestimating the likely risks
“Considering that after 12 European (or whatever) and many American, Australian, Japanese, etc. sanctions packages, there is a sugar-free Coca-Cola from Poland on my table, bought officially in a store, there are no problems with payment for services (there are plenty of services that provide them well), a new sanctions package is unlikely to make a revolution in this cozy world of sanctions,” Klimenko told RG.
Let us remind you that a new package of sanctions against Russia will come into force on September 12. It concerns the IT industry. The new restrictions are aimed at legal entities, but there is a risk that the restrictions will also affect ordinary users.
EO 14071 prohibits IT consulting and design in Russia. It is also impossible to provide technical support and ensure the operation of cloud services for business management. In addition, software for design and production cannot be supplied to Russia.
At the same time, as US authorities claim, the restrictions are not directed against ordinary citizens.
