• Home
  • Internet
  • Internet News
  • EU Unclear on Ban of Cloud Services in Russia Amid Invasion of Ukraine, Amends Latest Sanction Package

EU Unclear on Ban of Cloud Services in Russia Amid Invasion of Ukraine, Amends Latest Sanction Package

It is not clear how EU ban, if applied, would affect Russia, as the US companies Amazon, Google, Microsoft are the top cloud providers in Europe.

EU Unclear on Ban of Cloud Services in Russia Amid Invasion of Ukraine, Amends Latest Sanction Package

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Guillaume Périgois

Last week, the European Union adopted a new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus

Highlights
  • The EU could ban Russian access to cloud services under new sanctions
  • An EU official said the measure was 'technically complex'
  • The top cloud providers in Europe are US-based companies
Advertisement

The European Union is working on a possible ban on the provision of cloud services to Russia as part of new sanctions against the Kremlin for the invasion of Ukraine, an EU official told Reuters on Wednesday, noting the measure was technically complex.

If introduced, it is unclear how the EU ban would affect Russia, because top cloud providers in Europe are US companies, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

The European Union last week adopted a new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus which included an oil embargo, restrictive measures on Russian banks and a ban on the provision of consultancy services to Moscow.

An initial version of a press release on the sanctions package issued by the EU Council on June 3 also referred to a ban on the provision of cloud services, but was later amended to delete that reference. That sanction does not appear in the legal texts published in the official journal of the EU.

A press officer for the Council said the initial mention of the sanction on cloud services was "a material error", and declined to say whether it may have been caused by a debate on the matter among EU states.

An EU official familiar with decisions on sanctions said the measure on cloud services was never proposed by the European Commission, but added that the EU was working on introducing the ban in possible future rounds of sanctions despite it being technically difficult.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president's adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that the editing of the press release by the EU Council had been done without offering a clear explanation and that it suggested a possible watering down of sanctions.

"We must increase the sanctions pressure, not decrease," he said.

© Thomson Reuters 2022


What is the best value flagship smartphone? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Mi Smart Band 7 Reportedly Spotted on IMDA Website, Hints at Imminent Global Launch
Xiaomi 12 Ultra Protective Case Spotted On Youpin Platform: Report
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »