The American corporation Microsoft has offered Russian private companies that have not been sanctioned, as well as branches of international companies in Russia, to extend their software licenses.
About a thousand russian clients have already received letters from the corporation with the corresponding offer. Vitaly Mankevich, chairman of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, confirmed that the companies that are members of the association had received letters from Microsoft.
"As we can see, the Western authorities are not putting pressure on Microsoft to work in russia. Microsoft is evaluating opportunities to return to the country," Mankevich said. According to his estimates, the corporation's withdrawal from the Russian market last year cost the company $125 million.
As a reminder, in March 2022, the American corporation announced that it would stop selling its goods and providing services in Russia due to the imposition of sanctions against Russia.
Last June, Microsoft announced that it was going to "significantly" reduce its operations in Russia due to "changing economic prospects" affecting the business.
"As far as Russia is concerned, we're going to reduce our business until eventually there's little or nothing left," company president Brad Smith told The Washington Post in late June.
The Russian division of the corporation, Microsoft Rus LLC, laid off almost all employees and terminated the lease agreement, but the decision to liquidate the structure was not considered.
