Google massively blocks services for Russian companies under sanctions

Kommersant reports, citing sources in two large IT companies.

"After the blocking of services, the company's employees cannot access corporate email, use electronic document management via Google Docs, and almost all important documents and correspondence remain in Google's corporate storage," complained one of the interlocutors.

In a letter from the American corporation, this is explained by "spam messages," the source said. According to him, Google may continue to block Russian businesses without warning, which will not give companies time to create backups on other sites.

The changes in accessibility to existing Workspace services in Russia were not made on purpose, a source close to Google said. Softline company, which is a distributor of the American company's developments in the Russian market, has not yet recorded an increase in blocking.

Kirill Vinokurov, Head of Cloud Solutions at Softline, believes that services can be blocked for violating the terms of use: "An error can occur if you send an email to more than 500 recipients at once or send more than 500 emails in a day. But commercial versions of services still have a higher margin for sending or receiving emails."

It is reported that Google Workspace services are mainly used by small and medium-sized businesses. Large businesses rarely use the American developer's products, as it contradicts the principles of cybersecurity.

• On May 11, a court in Moscow imposed a fine of 3 million rubles on Google for failing to remove content containing allegedly false information about the war against Ukraine. 

• Between June 23 and June 24, several Russian Internet providers blocked access to Google news search amid a "coup d'etat" by the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.