Sony suspends hardware, software shipments to Russia

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Joining the wave of sanctions on Russia where Western companies withdrew from doing business with the country, Sony has decided to suspend all software and hardware shipments to Moscow, according to media reports. The PlayStation store will always be unavailable for Russian users.

Other multinational corporations have taken such a decision, such as McDonald's, Nike, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Shell, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and others. 

Just yesterday, McDonald's suspended the work of all its restaurants in Russia in light of Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine, but it claimed that it would continue to pay the salaries to its employees in the federation, CEO Chris Kempczinski said in a letter sent to his company's employees and franchisees.

"McDonald’s has decided to temporarily close all our restaurants in Russia and pause all operations in the market. We understand the impact this will have on our Russian colleagues and partners, which is why we are prepared to support all three legs of the stool in Ukraine and Russia. This includes salary continuation for all McDonald’s employees in Russia," the letter read. 

Mcdonald's has more than 850 restaurants in Russia, with some 62,000 employees.

L'Oreal joins the party

French perfume and cosmetics company L'Oreal decided to join the Western trend of suspending work in Russia, as it will be temporarily closing its stores and e-commerce sites in Russia, as well as investments in the country.

"Regarding our activity in Russia, we are fully aligned with the position of the French and European authorities. We have decided to temporarily close all our own stores and directly operated counters in department stores and to suspend all industrial and national media investments," the French firm's statement read.

Two days ago, in a bid to paralyze the Russian economy, US President Joe Biden went on and banned imports of Russian oil to the United States.

"When the history of this war is written, Putin's war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger," he vowed, despite the Western economy practically crashing without Russian supplies.