Businesses face hefty penalties for operating on the Crimean peninsula, following its annexation by Russia in 2014 — a move deemed illegal by much of the international community and which resulted in the U.S., EU and other western countries placing stringent sanctions on Russia and barring firms from being active or investing on the peninsula. …
BlaBlaCar, the carpooling giant born in France, has stopped offering its services in Crimea, where it had been operating since 2014. The decision aims to avoid being targeted by the EU sanctions against firms operating on the peninsula, according to company representatives cited by local news website Crimea.Info. Since Russia took control of Crimea, a Ukrainian …
BlaBlaCar stops offering its services in Crimea to avoid EU sanctions Read More
The authorities of Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula which has been disputed between Russia and Ukraine since 2014, are considering creating a new international blockchain technology training center. Such a center would teach “specialists from countries under sanctions how to use new technologies to attract foreign investors,” Roman Tkachenko, the president of the Crimean Republican Association …
Qiwi, a Russian payment system operator and one of the country’s most active cryptocurrency players, will launch a test to track energy transactions using Blockchain technology in partnership with Tavrida Electric, one of the world’s leading suppliers of circuit breakers and a global energy smart grid supplier. Each Tavrida Electric transaction will be recorded on …
Qiwi is working on a Blockchain energy project in Crimea Read More
Last week Oleg Mikheyev, a member of the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament), requested the Prosecutor General to inquire into TripAdvisor, whose website displays Crimea as being a Ukrainian territory. This misrepresentation could be enough to ban the US company from operating in Russia, suggests Mikheyev. “In the present time, all possible …
Chinese online retail giant AliExpress left the disputed territory of Crimea off its updated online order form, frustrating residents of the Black Sea peninsula, the local Crimean news agency Krym Media reported Friday. Initial reports of the order form change suggested that AliExpress, part of China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, was complying with Western …
AliExpress temporarily excludes Crimea from list of shipping destinations Read More
Crimean gamers were locked out of playing popular online multiplayer games World of Warcraft and Diablo III last week, as the game publisher was forced to suspend the accounts in compliance with Western sanctions. Major US Internet and tech companies such as Apple, Google and PayPal have suspended services to Crimean users over the last year. The United States in December barred US-registered companies from investing in Crimea or providing …
US sanctions block Crimeans from World of Warcraft, Diablo III Read More
The speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament has proposed the creation of a Russian “Silicon Valley” in Crimea. Valentina Matviyenko said at a session devoted to Russia’s regions that the project could be implemented “taking into account the business experience of Russia’s regions.” Matviyenko said “it is necessary” to work on the creation …
Russian upper house speaker wants “Silicon Valley” in Crimea Read More
Russia’s Ministry of Telecommunications recently developed a draft decree limiting the procurement of foreign software. The ministry intends to establish a register of domestic software developers and oblige state agencies and state-owned companies to buy software only from those on the list. If the registry is missing the necessary software or it does not fit …
Russia’s absorption of the Crimea region in early 2014 continues to be a source of friction between Washington and Moscow. The issue was illustrated recently by several US firms which cut ties with the disputed territory altogether. Due to sanctions placed on the region last year by the US authorities, which include an export ban of …
Banking and finance software developer R-Style Softlab, based in Russia and owned by Polish company Asseco, is opening a new division in Crimea. Its office will be in Sevastopol. The department will specialise in software development for the banking sector, particularly banks located within Crimea and nearby regions. The company expects that by the end of the …
The Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian), a fund launched last year following a government initiative, will open a remote regional accelerator in Sevastopol, Crimea, as soon as this summer. The news was reported last week by Russian business daily Kommersant. The fund is expecting to support five to seven projects, which will …
Russia seeks to develop startup industry in Crimea Read More
