Google Moves Employees Out of Russia
Google has moved the bulk of its employees out of Russia, according to people familiar with the matter, ending the company’s commercial presence in the country for the near future.
Most of Google’s Russian employees opted to leave the country and continue to work for Google outside Russia, with a large number ending up in Dubai, where Google has a big office, the people said. Some employees opted to stay in Russia and leave the company, and soon Google will have no more employees in Russia, the people said.
The
Alphabet Inc.
GOOG -3.69%
unit began offering to move employees in Russia out of the country after a court in late March froze Google’s main bank account in the country. The court’s bailiff then transferred the money out of the account, leaving Google with no funds to make payroll and other expenses, the people said, declining to say how much was seized.
“The Russian authorities’ seizure of Google Russia’s bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations,” Google said.
As a result, Google’s Russian subsidiary will soon declare bankruptcy in the country, Google said in a Russian regulatory filing published Wednesday.
The withdrawal of Google’s employees and planned bankruptcy underscore the further deterioration of Russia’s relationship with Western technology firms since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Google in 2014 closed its engineering office in Russia as the government ramped up its crackdown on internet freedoms, but the company continued selling ads and marketing its products from a bustling Moscow office.
After the Ukraine war began and Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia, the country’s communications censor accused the company’s YouTube video service of spreading misinformation and stoking protests. Google in March paused most of its commercial operations in the country, including all advertising.
Google said Wednesday that despite the effective end of operations for its Russian office, the company plans to keep free services like Search, YouTube, Maps and Gmail available in Russia. YouTube has come under fire from Russian regulators for blocking Kremlin channels and refusing to remove content Russia has ordered down, but the Russian government has yet to block the service, which is very popular in Russia.
Other U.S. tech companies have faced the Kremlin’s ire for their handling of the war in Ukraine. In March, Russia blocked access to Facebook and Instagram, and labeled their parent company Meta Platforms Inc. an extremist organization for temporarily allowing calls in Ukraine for violence against Russian soldiers on its service.
Google, for its part, was fined 11 million rubles, equivalent to $170,000, by a Moscow court in April for spreading what it said was inaccurate information on YouTube regarding the losses of Russian armed forces during their invasion of Ukraine, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
A Moscow court also fined Google 7.22 billion rubles late last year for failing to remove banned content, according to Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian companies and individuals that the Treasury Department said have been helping Moscow evade the West’s economic pressure campaign, including Russia’s largest microchip manufacturer.
—Alexander Gladstone contributed to this article.
Write to Sam Schechner at [email protected] and Mauro Orro at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the May 19, 2022, print edition as ‘Google Withdraws From Russia, Moving Workers Out of the Country.’
Google has moved the bulk of its employees out of Russia, according to people familiar with the matter, ending the company’s commercial presence in the country for the near future.
Most of Google’s Russian employees opted to leave the country and continue to work for Google outside Russia, with a large number ending up in Dubai, where Google has a big office, the people said. Some employees opted to stay in Russia and leave the company, and soon Google will have no more employees in Russia, the people said.
The
Alphabet Inc.
GOOG -3.69%
unit began offering to move employees in Russia out of the country after a court in late March froze Google’s main bank account in the country. The court’s bailiff then transferred the money out of the account, leaving Google with no funds to make payroll and other expenses, the people said, declining to say how much was seized.
“The Russian authorities’ seizure of Google Russia’s bank account has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations,” Google said.
As a result, Google’s Russian subsidiary will soon declare bankruptcy in the country, Google said in a Russian regulatory filing published Wednesday.
The withdrawal of Google’s employees and planned bankruptcy underscore the further deterioration of Russia’s relationship with Western technology firms since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Google in 2014 closed its engineering office in Russia as the government ramped up its crackdown on internet freedoms, but the company continued selling ads and marketing its products from a bustling Moscow office.
After the Ukraine war began and Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia, the country’s communications censor accused the company’s YouTube video service of spreading misinformation and stoking protests. Google in March paused most of its commercial operations in the country, including all advertising.
Google said Wednesday that despite the effective end of operations for its Russian office, the company plans to keep free services like Search, YouTube, Maps and Gmail available in Russia. YouTube has come under fire from Russian regulators for blocking Kremlin channels and refusing to remove content Russia has ordered down, but the Russian government has yet to block the service, which is very popular in Russia.
Other U.S. tech companies have faced the Kremlin’s ire for their handling of the war in Ukraine. In March, Russia blocked access to Facebook and Instagram, and labeled their parent company Meta Platforms Inc. an extremist organization for temporarily allowing calls in Ukraine for violence against Russian soldiers on its service.
Google, for its part, was fined 11 million rubles, equivalent to $170,000, by a Moscow court in April for spreading what it said was inaccurate information on YouTube regarding the losses of Russian armed forces during their invasion of Ukraine, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
A Moscow court also fined Google 7.22 billion rubles late last year for failing to remove banned content, according to Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian companies and individuals that the Treasury Department said have been helping Moscow evade the West’s economic pressure campaign, including Russia’s largest microchip manufacturer.
—Alexander Gladstone contributed to this article.
Write to Sam Schechner at [email protected] and Mauro Orro at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the May 19, 2022, print edition as ‘Google Withdraws From Russia, Moving Workers Out of the Country.’
Denial of responsibility! Techno Blender is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.