Slack to reportedly suspend services in Russia

The popular team communication platform Slack will reportedly suspend its services in Russia by the end of July following the latest U.S. sanctions.

Over the weekend, local media reported that Russians started receiving messages from Slack warning that, “in accordance with current legislation” the company has to suspend accounts “based in Russia, primarily used by Russians, or associated with Russia.”

The move follows “sanctions and export control laws of the U.S., the European Union, and other applicable jurisdictions, including restrictions on the provision of software and services to Russia,” the message shared by Russian Slack users said.

Last week, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Russia intended to "restrict the ability of the Russian military-industrial base to benefit from certain U.S. software and information technology services."

The sanctions prohibit the supply of U.S.-branded IT consultancy and design services, tech support services, and cloud-based services for enterprise management software and design and manufacturing software to any person in Russia.

Slack did not respond to Recorded Future News' request for comment.

The company disabled the accounts of sanctioned Russia-related entities and individuals in the first months after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian media reported that at that time Slack's suspension affected major Russian companies, including the country’s state-owned bank, Sberbank.

“Users located in embargoed regions may regain full access to their accounts and data upon leaving the embargoed regions,” Slack said in a statement.

This time, the suspension will likely affect non-sanctioned entities and ordinary users. According to Pavel Potekhin, the owner of MTS Link, a Russian company that provides business communication services, even those companies that purchased a Slack license abroad received a warning about the upcoming suspension.

With the start of war in Ukraine two years ago, many Western tech firms announced they would quit the Russian market or suspend selling their products there — either for moral reasons or due to economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the EU or the U.S.

The companies that most recently announced the suspension of their services include Microsoft, Czech antivirus developer Avast, and developer platform Docker Hub.

In response, Russia is trying to switch to domestic tech alternatives. Last week, for example, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin signed a decree that bans government agencies, state corporations, and critical information infrastructure facilities from using cyber defense systems from “unfriendly countries.”