Amazon Web Services said Tuesday that it is no longer accepting new customers based in Russia or Belarus, becoming one of the latest technology companies to distance itself from business in the countries
Amazon.com Inc.'s cloud-computing unit, Amazon Web Services, said Tuesday that it is no longer accepting new customers based in Russia or Belarus, becoming one of the latest technology companies to distance itself from business in the countries.
“Unlike other U.S. technology providers, AWS has no data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government,” the company said in a blog that was first posted on Friday and then updated Tuesday to reflect the change. “We have also stopped allowing new sign-ups for AWS in Russia and Belarus.”
The company’s cloud rival, Microsoft Corp., suspended new sales in Russia last week. At a conference this week, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said the impact to the company would be small, with Russia representing less than 1% of the company's total revenue. The Ukrainian government had written to Amazon asking it to suspend all of its cloud services in Russia.
"Suspending the provision of AWS services in the Russian Federation will support a global united motion of many governments and businesses who have chosen long-term stability and growth over potential temporary profit losses," Mykhailo Fedorov, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, wrote in a letter to Amazon that he posted on Twitter on Sunday.