Microsoft president and vice-chair Brad Smith has announced that Microsoft is suspending all new sales of its products and services in Russia. “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 wrote in a blog post on the Microsoft website. “We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.” The blog post doesn’t specifically mention Xbox, but we assume the suspension of new sales and services will include the gaming brand. We have reached out to Microsoft for further clarification. Microsoft says it’s also “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 blog post continues by outlining what measures Microsoft has taken up until this point, including aiding cybersecurity officials in Ukraine against Russian cyberattacks. “We have acted against Russian positioning, destructive or disruptive measures against more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT and financial sector organizations. We have also acted against cyberattacks targeting several additional civilian sites. We have publicly raised our concerns that these attacks against civilians violate the Geneva Convention.”Smith rounds off the statement by saying, “Like so many others, we stand with Ukraine in calling for the restoration of peace, respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and the protection of its people.”The news comes after Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, called on the gaming industry to temporarily block Russian accounts. Both CD Projekt and Bloober Team have suspended sales of their games in Russia and Belarus. EA is also in the process of removing Russian teams from FIFA 22 and NHL 22.
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