Intel becomes latest tech firm to snub Russia

Chipmaker Intel has announced that it has suspended all its operations in Russia, a month after suspending all shipments to Russia and Belarus. 

“Intel continues to join the global community in condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine and calling for a swift return to peace. Effective immediately, we have suspended all business operations in Russia. This follows our earlier decision to suspend all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus,” the company said in a statement.  

Intel added that it is working to support all of its 1200 employees in Russia. “We have also implemented business continuity measures to minimise disruption to our global operations,” the company said. 

In early March, Apple also announced that it will halt product sales in Russia following the Ukraine Invasion. In late February, Apple pulled out Russian news portals Sputnik and RT News from the App Store. It also, along with Google, disabled certain features in its Maps.

Other companies which have suspended operations include music streaming services Spotify, and News outlets ABC, BBC and CNN, this was a knee jerk reaction to a new law that restricted free speech in the country. 

Also read: Ukraine war: Here's every tech service banned or suspended in Russia 

Big enterprises that have taken measures such as stopping sales include the likes of General Electric, Adobe and AMD. 

On March 11, Russia said that it had begun active preparations to disconnect from the global internet ecosystem and create its own private Internet.

#Russia began active preparations for disconnection from the global Internet

No later than March 11, all servers and domains must be transferred to the #Russian zone. In addition, detailed data on the network infrastructure of the sites is being collected. pic.twitter.com/wOCdRqOJej

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 6, 2022

It also said that detailed data on the network infrastructure of the sites is being collected.