As of early April 2024, the U.S. software giant Microsoft had not yet blocked its online services in Russia, according to Softline, the nation’s largest distributor of Microsoft products. Softline is in ongoing discussions with Microsoft, and the situation remained unsettled at that time.
The Softline statement, relayed through TASS, noted that there had been no observed service congestion as of April 1. This indicated that customers in Russia could still access Microsoft’s cloud-based offerings at that moment, albeit within a climate of looming restrictions and strategic review by the company.
In mid-March 2024, Microsoft announced an intention to restrict cloud services within Russia. Later disclosures clarified that the restrictions would target corporate customers rather than individual users. The anticipated effect was to limit access to key Microsoft products such as Excel, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Azure, Publisher, Access, SQL Server, and related data components.
Initial expectations placed the rollout around the night of March 20 to 21, 2024. The reasons for any postponement remained unclear. One theory suggested that Microsoft had not yet finalized the complete product list subject to restriction or had to address logistical considerations before implementing a broad policy across the Russian market.
Earlier reporting also touched on Google and its branding strategies, noting an unrelated clarification about the typical lifespan of branded smartphones. This reference served as a contextual aside, contrasting the rapid evolution of consumer tech with the more deliberate changes seen in enterprise software policies.