Microsoft is suspending new sales in Russia

Microsoft is suspending all new sales of its products and services in Russia amidst the invasion of Ukraine by Putin's forces.

In a blog post, Microsoft's president & vice chair Brad Smith also said the company's stopping "many aspects" of its business in Russia "in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions."

"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," wrote Smith. "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."

Microsoft says one of its key goals is to protect Ukraine's cybersecurity, as well as help the people in Ukraine by providing technology and financial support for key nongovernmental organizations. Microsoft detailed the steps it's taking to protect Ukraine from cyberattacks in a blog post from February.

Microsoft's decision to halt sales in Russia follows similar steps taken by numerous other tech companies, including Apple, which halted sales of its products in Russia earlier this week. Social media companies, including Meta, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter, have also employed a number of steps and strategies to reduce misinformation related to the conflict in Ukraine. And just hours ago, Airbnb suspended all of its operations in Russia and Belarus, while Google announced it's suspending all ad sales in Russia.