Several days ago, JetBrains announced on its official blog that it would support Ukraine publicly and suspend its sales in Russia and Belarus indefinitely. The company is best known for its product IntelliJ IDEA, which is an integrated development environment for Java programming.
In the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it is not uncommon for technology companies to take a public position.
Hardware:
Apple (mobile phones and operating systems): Sales of Apple products have been suspended in Russia, and Apple Pay has been restricted. In addition, Apple said it has shut down Apple Maps' traffic and real-time event features in Ukraine to protect civilians.
AMD and Intel (semiconductor chips): AMD and Intel have notified their channel partners to prohibit the supply of processors to Russian targets on the export control list.
Global Foundries (chip foundry manufacturing): The company has announced its compliance with the relevant provisions of the U.S. sanctions order. According to Global Foundries executives, the company has a system in place to review any prohibited sales to Russia.
The TSMC (chip foundry manufacturing) will cease to export industrial semiconductors to Russia and its upstream suppliers and will cease to produce Elbrus semiconductors developed in Russia. Furthermore, it will carefully examine the sanctions to ensure that they are fully complied with.
Software:
Oracle (database) - Suspended all operations in Russia. Oracle posted on Twitter: "On behalf of Oracle's 150,000 employees around the world and in support of both the elected government of Ukraine and for the people of Ukrainian, Oracle Cooperation has already suspended all operations in the Russian Federation. ")
SAP (ERP) - Suspended all services and products in Russia.
Meta (social) - Imposes restrictions on the official accounts of RT TV and RIA Novosti on social networks Facebook and Instagram within Europe, as well as prohibits Russian official media from advertising on any of their platforms or monetizing any published content.
Google (search) - Restricted the use of news features by Russian official media, suspended the registration and use of Chrome browser, Android Store, and Adsense in the above regions. At the same time, its video-sharing site YouTube has also banned Russian official media outlets and advertising on its platform throughout Europe.
Microsoft (OS) - Microsoft will no longer display products and ads of Russia Today and RIA Novosti, and has taken down Russia Today-related apps from its app store.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the open source community, with its open and collaborative spirit, has also become involved in the dispute.
Github responded to the Russia-Ukraine situation on its website: "Our legal team examines such mandates thoroughly, and we are complying with export controls and trade regulations as they evolve. This includes implementing stringent new export controls that are aimed at severely restricting Russia’s access to technologies and other items it needs to sustain its aggressive military capabilities. "
A front-end development framework, React, posted a banner of solidarity with Ukraine on its homepage, which sparked an outcry and many developers accused React of violating the spirit of open source.
Several of these initiatives have also contributed to a gradual change in public perception of open source software. Despite the fact that open-source software was previously considered to be "open and harmless", it has turned out to be not so "safe, no threshold". Even with the existence of open source software agreements, there may still be many restrictions, and even countries subject to sanctions may be prohibited from using the code initially intended for public access.
What’s the reaction from Russia?
Some technology companies may impose sanctions against Russia because they do not have a large market there. Even if they temporarily withdraw from Russia, it is unlikely that it will negatively affect their business. Statistically, Apple's market share of sales in the Russian smartphone market ranges from 10% to 11%, ranking only fourth out of all cell phone manufacturers. The loss of the Russian market has a relatively small impact on the overall market.
Although the sanctions on chips are worth mentioning, it is unlikely that Russia will be overly concerned. The semiconductor industry is typically capital-intensive and requires sustained, large-scale investments over the long term. However, Russia's private economy is still struggling, and there might be no time to consider the development of cell phones, tablets, and other civilian consumer electronics. It is therefore unlikely that the country will have time to worry about this imported high-end chip predicament, since it has already occurred.
Furthermore, it cannot be denied that the Russian economy will suffer seriously if a large number of foreign companies choose to leave the Russian market under sanctions. Following the collective withdrawal of foreign companies from the Russian market, President Putin issued a decree that essentially nationalized foreign companies that had announced their withdrawal.
For a long time, Russia has lagged behind the developed countries in the West in terms of information technology, and its dependence on foreign technologies and products has been high. However, in the past decade, Russia has embarked on a development path of information technology with "secure and autonomous control."
"Behind the countermeasure": adhere to the road of independent control of security.
On November 1, 2013, Putin officially approved the "Strategy for the Development of the Russian Information Technology Industry from 2014 to 2020 and the Vision Strategy until 2025". The document mentions that in the next 10 to 15 years, Russia has made big data processing, computer training, human-computer interaction, robotics, quantum and optical technologies, and information security as long-term priority R&D projects.
In January 2014, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev defined a "Forecast for the Development of Science and Technology in Russia until 2030" drafted by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. Among the priority directions for the future development of science and technology in Russia identified in this document, information and communication technologies were listed at the top.
In July 2017, the Government of the Russian Federation officially approved Document No. 1632, "Digital Economy Plan of the Russian Federation." The Plan contains clear requirements that, in 2018, Russia will guarantee the legal status and funding arrangements for the Russian Internet and related critical infrastructure at the legislative position, locate critical infrastructure on the territory of Russia, and ensure the complete elimination of all threats of cutting off the Russian Internet from abroad by 2021.
In 2019, Putin signed the Sovereign Internet Law, which aims to make it necessary for Internet traffic to be transmitted through government-controlled infrastructure.Despite all the initiatives taken, progress has been made towards the localization of Russian hardware and software.
In terms of chips, Russia's MCST and Baikal Electronics have launched relevant alternative products. Meanwhile, Russia has launched its own Linux-based operating system, and the Russian Ministry of Defense has officially decided that all office computers should stop using Windows by changing to Astra Linux in 2018. For the search engines, the Russian government-led telecommunications operator Rostelecom launched Sputnik.ru, Russia's self-developed search engine, on May 22, 2014.
As for Internet systems, Russia's internal network system, RuNet, requires all local Internet service providers to route traffic to government infrastructure equipment. In several national disconnection tests, Russia had cut off the connection with the global Internet, and the entire country's internal network and facilities still operated normally. Additionally, it has been reported that by the end of 2022, Russia will have its own open source community to replace GitHub.
