Ever since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighboring country Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022, the world has been watching closely. Unsanctioned by the West and stained with civilian casualties, the conflict struck a heavy blow to global politics. A new challenge of isolating Russia’s economy is successfully implemented, with numerous international businesses cutting their ties with the country altogether.

The sanctions aim to undermine Russia’s capabilities of financing the invasion. Hastily, tech giants like Apple, Amazon, IBM, Intel, among many others, stopped their operations in Russia. That’s not all. Video game development giants Electronic Arts, CD Projekt, Nintendo, Sony, Rockstar Games, and many more also ceased all operations in the Russian market.

Invasion of Ukraine and Global Cybersecurity Concerns

The reason behind this global boycott is straightforward: doing business (and paying taxes) in Russia is providing the country with finances to fuel the attack on Ukraine. On the other hand, consumers boycott Russian products because they hope to create enough economic pressure to convince the Russian government to back down from the invasion. In the words of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “Peace is more important than profit.”

As a global premium proxy service provider, IPRoyal works with data mining infrastructure and servers worldwide, heavily focusing on all things related to cybersecurity. With that in mind, they decided to gather a list of IT service providers and software development enterprises whose taxes inevitably end in Russia’s treasury. More importantly, many IT experts are worried about the possibility of the Russian government using software solutions for spying.

The Biggest Names in Russia’s IT Industry

Russia’s IT industry has grown significantly in recent years and captured a fair portion of the global market. Here are a few names to keep an eye on:

–  Kaspersky

Kaspersky is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus service provider with more than 4,000 employees. According to its PR, Kaspersky protects over 400 million users worldwide. If the previous privacy issues were not enough, now might be a good time to consider switching to a different anti-virus provider.

Cybersecurity specialists also advise against using software from unfriendly states to prevent the possibility of gathering private data. Kaspersky services include Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Kaspersky Internet Security, Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection, Kaspersky Password Manager, and others.

–  Yandex

Yandex is a Russian corporation with over 70 different services. It provides a search engine, Yandex Music (alternative to Spotify), Yandex Browser (integrated with Kaspersky Anti-Virus), and even Yandex Go, a taxi service reported gathering passenger data in Eastern European countries.

Other Yandex services include Toloka: Earn Online, Zen, Meteum, Yandex.Telemost, Yandex.Metrica, and others.

–  1C Company

1C Company is a prominent Russian software developer, distributor, and publisher. Its parent company is China’s Tencent, revealing close ties between the two authoritarian countries. Its notorious services include 1C:Enterprise, customizable business automation, document management, and accounting automation software.

The company is also one of the major video game publishers in Russia. They published the King’s Bounty series, IL-2 Sturmovik series, and Deep Sky Derelicts. They also collaborate with Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and others regarding video game publishing in Russia.

So for anyone from businessmen looking for automation solutions to video games developers looking for publishers – 1C Company may not be the best choice at this very moment.

These are the only three renowned Russian IT companies that enjoy worldwide attention. However, there are other medium-sized names to consider:

–  Dr.Web – cybersecurity, anti-spam, and anti-malware services
–  ABBYY – automation company with development centers in Russia and Hungary
–  PROMT – Russian company focused on the development of machine translation systems
–  Raidix – services for professional NAS and SAN storage systems
–  ElcomSoft – cybersecurity services focused on password and system recovery
–  Elecard – audio and video encoding, decoding, and processing
–  Ashmanov & Partners – digital marketing, IT, software, and AI development company.

Russian Software Development Companies

A search for renowned Russian software products won’t bring back much. However, there are quite a few companies that offer software development services. Those who are looking for somebody to turn their ideas into apps may want to skip these names: Nord Clan, SimbirSoft, WebSailors, Rocketech, Simtech Development, Purrweb, Maxilect, ITA Labs, A2SEVEN, Postgres Professional, Burning Buttons, Touch instinct, Iron Water Studio, and InfoShell, among others.

Regarding streaming, IVI, Kinopoisk HD, Amediateka, and Okko are well-known Russian streaming service providers. Expats who’d prefer not to think about the possibility of funding the war in Ukraine could consider canceling these subscriptions for a while. After all, since Russia is legalizing piracy, there’s no need to pay streaming service providers.

Russian Video Game Developers

Over the last few decades, the video games market has grown tremendously. Furthermore, the ever-expanding monetization schemes made it a formidable source of income and a steady flow of cash into the Russian Federal Treasury reservoir. Here’s a list of video games to consider avoiding for the time being:

–  Crossout
–  King’s Bounty: Legions
–  Gemmy Lands – Match 3 Games
–  Pathologic 2
–  Know by heart
–  TurnOn
–  Allods Online
–  Skyforge
–  Mystery Trackers game series
–  Grim Tales game series
–  Chimeras game series
–  Christmas Stories game series.

There’s More Than One Way to Help

Until the Russian Federation changes its’ aggressive foreign policies, it would be best to do some research and double-checking to prevent putting money in an authoritarian pocket or providing Putin’s government with sensitive data. Aside from choosing to boycott Russian companies and their services, those who wish to help can also consider volunteering or getting involved with the Red Cross, UNHCR, UNICEF, and other nonprofits distributing aid to Ukrainian civilians in need.

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