Microsoft did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

One of Microsoft Corp’s subsidiaries in Russia plans to file for bankruptcy, according to a note published on the official Fedresurs registry on Friday.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

President Vladimir Putin said this week that foreign service providers like Microsoft and Zoom should be “throttled” in Russia to make way for domestic software solutions.

Microsoft continued providing key services in Russia after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but in June 2022 it said it was significantly scaling down its operations due to changes to the economic outlook and the impact on its business there.

The U.S. tech giant had already removed Russian state-owned media outlet RT’s mobile apps from the Windows App store and banned advertisements on Russian state-sponsored media in the days after the invasion.

The note posted on Fedresurs on Friday said that Microsoft Rus LLC was intending to declare bankruptcy.

The TASS news agency reported that Microsoft has three other Russian units – Microsoft Development Centre Rus, Microsoft Mobile Rus and Microsoft Payments Rus. It was not immediately clear how those units might be affected.

Alphabet-owned Google’s Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in 2022, saying that the seizure of its bank account by Russian authorities had made it untenable for its Russian office to function, including paying Russia-based employees, suppliers and vendors.