Amazon to stop shipping products to Russia, suspends Amazon Prime services

Amazon has suspended product deliveries to Russia and has paused its Prime streaming service, according to Business Insider.

Amazon explained the changes in a March 8 blog post, citing the current crisis in Russia and Ukraine.

"Given the ongoing situation in Russia and Ukraine, we’ve taken additional actions in the region," Amazon said in a blog post. "We’ve suspended shipment of retail products to customers based in Russia and Belarus, and we will no longer be accepting new Russia and Belarus-based AWS customers and Amazon third-party sellers. We are also suspending access to Prime Video for customers based in Russia, and we will no longer be taking orders for New World, which is the only video game we sell directly in Russia."

Belarus is likewise affected by the shipping ban. According to Amazon, orders for New World, the company's only video game sold directly in Russia, are no longer being accepted.

Amazon didn't have much of a presence in Russia. The corporation stated that it has no assets in Russia and also has a "long-standing policy" of never doing business with the Russian government.

Amazon has joined a lengthy list of corporations that have halted operations in Russia as a result of Western-led sanctions imposed in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The e-commerce giant previously stated that it has been assisting Ukraine with cybersecurity and that it has noticed harmful state and non-state actors seeking to hack charities, NGOs, and other relief organizations in order to spread misinformation and cause disruption.

The news comes after Netflix said earlier this week that it will be halting its service in Russia. The action follows the company's announcement last week that it will refuse to comply with a new Russian regulation requiring streaming firms to offer twenty Russian propaganda channels. Netflix has also halted all future ventures in Russia that it had planned.

Amazon has joined the increasing list of corporations that have halted operations in Russia as a result of the country's aggression towards Ukraine. Several corporations, including PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and others, declared earlier this week that they were ceasing operations in the country. Apple acknowledged last week that it has ceased product sales in Russia.