Microsoft Corp President Brad Smith wrote a letter to the President of Ukraine with a clear message: despite Kyiv’s calls to cut all ties with Russia, the software giant will continue to exist in Russia / The company will do business with unauthorized customers, including schools and hospitals.
“Depriving these institutions of software updates and services could endanger the health and safety of innocent civilians, including children and the elderly,” Brad Smith said.
Smith told President Volodymyr Zelensky that Microsoft was “mindful of the moral responsibility” to protect civilians. However, he said the company is discussing with the US, UK and EU governments whether to “stop any ongoing services and support” in Russia and whether to move “in step with their sanctions and other economic objectives.”
The decision by some of the leading Western business technology makers, including Microsoft, the German multinational software company SAP SE (SAPG.DE), and the US giant International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), to keep operations or personnel in Russia despite calls Ukraine, angered their workers in several countries.
Small groups of employees at Microsoft, SAP and IBM have urged management to pull out of Russia entirely after the escalation in Ukraine, according to comments posted on internal forums and interviews with 18 employees conducted by Reauters.
Employees urged companies to go beyond halting new sales and turning away sanctioned customers to increase economic pressure on Moscow. They want their companies to suspend all transactions in Russia, including software that customers can use to track sales, supply chains and workforce.
Source: ixbt
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