Samsung Electronics Co. has suspended product shipments to Russia due to current geopolitical developments, joining a growing list of companies from Apple Inc. to Microsoft Corp. that are halting sales and services in the country following its invasion of Ukraine last week.
The South Korean tech giant is actively monitoring the complex situation, the company said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. Exports to Russia of all Samsung products ranging from chips to smartphones and consumer electronics have been suspended, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“Our thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted and our priority is to ensure the safety of all our employees and their families,” Samsung said in the statement. The company is donating $6 million, including $1 million in consumer electronics products, to humanitarian efforts in the region.
Tensions increased on Friday after Ukraine said that Russian forces attacked a nuclear power plant in the southeast part of the country, raising the stakes in the war and prompting calls for an even more robust response to the Kremlin’s aggression. The EU, U.S. and U.K. have compiled an extensive list of sanctions in an effort to isolate the country, financially, economically and technologically.
Beyond concerns about the war, operating in Russia has become challenging for outside companies, given the sanctions, a U.S. ban on transactions with the country’s central bank and a precipitous decline in the ruble.
Microsoft on Friday condemned Russia’s “unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion” of Ukraine and said it’s suspending all new sales of products and services in Russia. Apple has halted sales of iPhones and started limiting Apple Pay services and other popular products in Russia, and removed the RT News and Sputnik News applications from App Stores outside the country. **bleep** Inc., the largest supplier of PCs to Russia, has stopped exports to the country as has Intel Corp.
