Microsoft has been fined more than $3 million for selling software to various sanctioned Russian companies between 2012 and 2019.
In essence, Microsoft itself is not to blame for this situation, because it did not directly sell the software to these companies, but Microsoft’s partners did. These partners have concluded official cooperation on the distribution of the company’s products, as is also the case in Latvia. And this time, the main company has not tracked all the activities, because it is the partners who have done these illegal activities.
The most interesting and certainly the most respectful thing is that Microsoft themselves have discovered such a situation and will report it to the appropriate supervisory authorities, who have also imposed a penalty. Therefore, the company did not dispute it, but received a small reduction for cooperation. Microsoft software has been sold to various companies and individuals located in Cuba, Iran, Syria and Russia.
Of course, this has made it possible to better prepare for the current situation with the Russian-led war in Ukraine and various trade restrictions. Microsoft is certainly not alone in this story, and many companies need to be able to react in time and evaluate the control of the sale of their products so that they do not end up in the possession of sanctioned countries, companies and individuals.
