Google began blocking Google Workspace corporate services to a number of Russian companies that fell under US sanctions

Google has begun blocking corporate Google Workspace services (corporate mail, documents, disk, etc.) for a number of Russian companies that have fallen under US sanctions. Those who do not have backups to alternate workspaces may lose information as a result. Experts note that Google’s corporate services are predominantly used by small and medium-sized businesses that are not subject to import substitution requirements.

Kommersant’s sources in two large IT companies said that on the night of August 10, Google began massively blocking corporate Google Workspace services (corporate mail, Google Documents, Google Drive, etc.) for Russian companies that are under sanctions. The names of the sources were not specified. “After blocking services, company employees cannot access corporate mail, use electronic document management through Google Docs, because of which there is a risk of financial and reputational losses, almost all important documents and correspondence remained in Google’s corporate storage,” says one of the interlocutors “ b”.

An interlocutor in another large company noted that now about 30% of all corporate information of Russian companies is stored on the American site Google Workspace: “Many organizations completely delay the transition to alternative workspaces, such as Yandex, hoping that Google will warn in advance about blocking” .

According to a Kommersant source, in a mailing that came to employees of Russian IT companies, the American corporation argued the blocking with “spam messages.” Kommersant’s interlocutor in the IT market is sure that Google will continue to block Russian enterprises that are under EU or US sanctions, “moreover, an American company can do this without warning, which will prevent companies from backing up to alternative sites.”

In May 2022, it became known that Google intends to liquidate the Russian Google LLC and take employees abroad who want to continue working in an American company. In June, Google LLC filed for its own bankruptcy. (see Kommersant dated June 17, 2022).

As Kirill Vinokurov, head of the Softline cloud solutions development department (distributor of Google Workspace solutions), Kirill Vinokurov, explained to Kommersant, an American company can block accounts for violating the rules for using services.

“The error may occur if you sent an email to more than 500 recipients at once or sent more than 500 emails in a day. But on commercial versions of services, there is still a larger margin for sending / receiving letters, ”Mr. Vinokurov specified. Softline is often contacted by corporate clients on issues related to Google services, but so far, according to him, there has been no surge in blocking. A source close to Google claims that changes in access to existing Workspace services in Russia were “intentionally not introduced.”

The Google Workspace service is mainly distributed in the segment of small and medium-sized businesses, says Evgeny Fenyushin, director of products at MyOffice. “Despite geopolitical changes, companies in this segment still continue to use such foreign services. Users are accustomed to working in them, and regulatory restrictions on import substitution at the level of small businesses, as a rule, do not apply,” he notes.

Google’s possible refusal to serve Russian commercial clients is “another confirmation that not only government agencies, but also businesses have risks of unavailability of foreign systems,” emphasizes Mr. Fenyushin.

Large Russian businesses rarely use the products of an American developer, as this is contrary to the principles of cybersecurity, says Yuri Matsygin, head of the production unit of NOTA (part of T1), “according to the rules, employees must use systems whose servers are located within the country.” Earlier, Telecom Daily reported, citing a letter from Microsoft’s technical support, that the company would stop renewing software licenses for Russian corporate customers after September 30.

Timofey Kornev