Last week, big tech companies joined in the sanctions and actions against Russia’s attack on Ukraine. For instance, Google took off Russia Today and Sputnik from its Play Store, so did Apple. Visa and Mastercard also took off Russian financial institutions from their networks. Airbnb, which is providing refuge for Ukrainians who need it also suspended its operations in Russia.
On Saturday, global smartphone maker Samsung Electronics announced its decision to pause the shipment of Samsung products to Russia. The company mentioned that the decision was been embarked upon “due to the current geopolitical development” and that “we continue to actively observe this complex situation to determine our next step.”
The halted product shipments include smartphones, semiconductors and consumer electronics. The company, however, failed to mention if it’ll also be halting services in Russia. Prior to its decision to stop products shipment to Russia, shipping channels and flights into the country had paused operations. Big names like Maersk and MSC halted operations as part of the sanctions that Russia has received. Hyundai Merchant Marine, a South Korean shipping company and one of the biggest South Korean names, which handles shipping for Korean companies including Samsung, Hyundai and LG, stopped shipping to Russia.
Samsung’s announcement follows a plea from Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation – Mykhailo Fedorov, which urged Samsung to stop supplying its product as well as cease its services in Russia. The appeal came in a letter the government official sent to Samsung’s Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee.
In the letter which he shared via a tweet on Friday, Mykhailo Fedorov wrote that “We want you to be part of history and help us in such an extraordinary situation. We believe that such actions will motivate the youth and active population of Russia to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression. We need your support – in 2022, modern technology is perhaps the best answer to the tanks, multiple rocket launchers and missiles targeting residential neighbourhoods, kindergartens, and hospitals. Stay with Ukraine and save millions of innocent lives!”
The government official had earlier urged cryptocurrency platforms to cut off Russia from their platforms and while some of them such as Binance and Kraken say that they have no legal obligation to do so and would only be blocking the accounts of people that made it to sanctions lists, others such as D Market have followed the directive.
“Our thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted and our priority is to ensure the safety of all our employees and their families. We plan to actively support humanitarian efforts around the region, including aid for refugees,” Samsung wrote. The company is also donating $6 million – $1 million in consumer electronics products and voluntary donations from its employees.
Ukraine which has been receiving monetary support from various donors has so far raised over $50 million in cryptocurrency donations.