Due to the ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, Microsoft takes the next step and lays off almost all employees in Russia.
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Microsoft is laying off most of its employees in Russia
© Tatohra / Shutterstock, Microsoft
Like many companies before it, Microsoft has now announced that it will start immediately to reduce its business activities in Russia as much as possible. The Redmond-based company had previously stopped sales in large parts, and now almost all employees are being laid off, as Bloomberg reports.
Around 400 employees are affected. However, they should receive “full support in these difficult times” from Microsoft and be treated with respect, as the company emphasizes in a statement.
The Redmond company had already stopped all sales in the country in March, but also announced that it would fulfill existing contracts. The update supply for PCs operated in Russia will also continue.
Microsoft does not operate its own data centers in Russia
However, the cloud business looks different for Microsoft in Russia. The company does not operate its own data centers at the site, but has been working with the Russian network operator MTS since 2018 to offer its Azure cloud services. It is currently not known whether existing cooperations and customer contracts will be negatively affected.
Decriminalization of piracy
Because of its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is increasingly being sanctioned and boycotted by many companies. Apple, Microsoft, some publishers and many other companies stopped their sales and services in Russia months ago. The Putin government even considered legalizing piracy as a countermeasure.
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