US technology giant Microsoft Corporation is preparing to impose new sanctions on Russian companies, cutting off their access to certain cloud subscriptions from 2 September.
According to the CNews portal, citing representatives of the Russian IT company Softline, Microsoft’s new sanctions will prevent corporate customers in Russia from accessing certain cloud services.
The restrictions will apply to all legal entities registered in Russia, but will not affect multinational companies owned or controlled by foreign legal entities.
Elena Volotovskaya, vice president of investments at Softline and president of Softline Venture Partners, did not elaborate on the scope of the restrictions.
Meanwhile, TASS news agency reported that the ban could also cover the Microsoft 365 cloud service, previously known as Office 365.
Softline said the new restrictions will affect all licensing channels, including enterprise and cloud solution provider (CSP) programmes.
The firm has asked Microsoft for clarification on which specific products and subscriptions will be affected, how long data stored in the cloud will remain accessible, and the status of Licensing Solution Provider (LSP) and CSP agreements that include sanctioned products.
In June, the US expanded its sanctions against Russia to prohibit the provision of certain information technology services.
As of 12 September, US companies are prohibited from providing IT consulting services, enterprise software design services, and IT support services for software used in business management, design, and production to Russian customers.
These prohibitions cover the export and re-export of services from the US, as well as the provision of such services by any US-related entity. Exceptions were made only for companies controlled by US citizens.
