400 Microsoft Workers In Russia ‘Impacted’ As Operations Scale Down

‘As a result of the changes to the economic outlook and the impact on our business in Russia, we have made the decision to significantly scale down our operations in Russia,’ says Microsoft in a statement.

Microsoft is scaling down its operations in Russia in a significant way due to that country’s invasion of Ukraine — with the software giant expecting around 400 employees in Russia to be “affected.”

“As a result of the changes to the economic outlook and the impact on our business in Russia, we have made the decision to significantly scale down our operations in Russia,” Microsoft said in a statement. “We will continue to fulfill our existing contractual obligations with Russian customers while the suspension of new sales remains in effect.”

The Redmond, Wash.-based software and cloud giant said around 400 employees in Russia will be affected by its new decision to wind down its operations inside the country. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

“We are working closely with impacted employees to ensure they are treated with respect and have our full support during this difficult time,” Microsoft said in the statement.

[Related: Microsoft ‘Follina’ Office Vulnerability: How To Prevent It]

Within about one week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, Microsoft halted new sales of products and services in Russia.

Microsoft continued to support its existing customers and keep its Russian offices open. However, Microsoft is now looking to slash its Russian offices and workers as it scales down its operations in the county.

Growing List Of IT Companies Severing Ties With Russia

Dozens of the world’s largest IT companies have been severing ties with Russia and halting operations and sales in the country since that country’s invasion of Ukraine

Just this week, IBM said it would be winding down its business in Russia. IBM said it the company expects no contribution from Russia in fiscal year 2022.

“As the consequences of the war continue to mount and uncertainty about its long-term ramifications grows, we have now made the decision to carry out an orderly wind-down of IBM’s business in Russia. We see this move as both right and necessary, and a natural next step following our business suspension,” said CEO Arvind Krishna in a letter to IBM employees.

Other technology giants shutting down operations in Russia include Dell Technologies, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, SAP, DXC Technology, Accenture and many others.

Microsoft Stops Russian Cyberattacks

In April, Microsoft said it disrupted cyberattacks conducted by an attacker connected with Russia targeting organizations in Ukraine, the United States and European Union.

Strontium – also known as Fancy Bear or APT28 – known for its connection to the Russian government, launched attacks on media organizations in Ukraine, government institutions and think tanks in the U.S. and E.U. involved in foreign policy and other entities.

“We believe Strontium was attempting to establish long-term access to the systems of its targets, provide tactical support for the physical invasion and exfiltrate sensitive information,” Microsoft said in a blog post at the time written by Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for customer, security and trust. “We have notified Ukraine’s government about the activity we detected and the action we’ve taken.”

Strontium and “nearly all of Russia’s nation-state actors” have been attacking Ukraine’s government and critical infrastructure, Microsoft said.