Amazon has joined the growing list of companies that have suspended commercial operations in Russia in the aftermath of the country’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
The e-commerce behemoth announced in a statement that it is blocking access to Prime Video for Russian customers due to the “ongoing situation in Russia and Ukraine.” Amazon also announced that it will no longer ship retail products to customers in Russia and Belarus, and that it will no longer accept orders from Russian customers for its video game “New World,” which is the only game the company is selling directly in the nation.
Furthermore, the business will no longer accept new customers from Russia or Belarus for its AWS cloud computing services, nor will merchants from those countries be acknowledged as Amazon third-party sellers.
“As a reminder, unlike some other U.S. technology providers, Amazon and AWS have no data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government,” according to a statement by Amazon.
According to Amazon, it has continued to collaborate with a number of nongovernmental organisations to address “the region’s enormous humanitarian needs.” The company announced a $5 million donation to help people affected by the war, and it has continued to match employee donations; to date, more than 10,000 Amazon employees have contributed to the effort.
Per the company, “tens of thousands of customers around the world” have donated to Save the Children and the Red Cross on the ground in Ukraine via Amazon’s homepages.
