UPD: 06/05/2014 Microsoft, Oracle, Symantec and Hewlett-Packard join sanctions against Russia

The American giants of the IT industry, including Microsoft, Oracle, Symantec and Hewlett-Packard (HP), join the sanctions against a number of Russian banks and companies and can completely stop cooperating with them. This situation pushes Russia to create its own software, similar to the national payment system.

American IT companies joined the sanctions against a number of Russian banks of their structures, told Gazeta. Ru "sources in the IT divisions of the two Russian banks and confirmed the executive secretary of the State Duma commission for strategic information systems Andrei Chernogorov.

A source close to the bank "Russia" says that the bank expects the shutdown of part of the foreign software "from day to day".

According to another source, the employees of Microsoft and Oracle met on this occasion with a representative of one of the banks that were under sanctions, but have not yet disconnected it from their products. Now, specialists of banks are urgently looking for opportunities to replace the products of American IT companies, another source said, adding: "It's not clear what's next: they may not allow us to use the license."

And the company joined the sanctions Hewlett-Packard. "HP stopped supplying us with the necessary equipment, and now we are urgently looking for a replacement," said a bank employee who insisted on maintaining anonymity, without specifying what specific equipment is involved. An American IT corporation confirms that it has no right to continue cooperation with companies in respect of which the United States has introduced restrictive measures. But how will there be a disconnect from their products, until the end is not decided.

In the bank "Russia", SMP Bank and Sobinbank were not able to comment on this issue during the day, Investkapitalbank, on the imposition of sanctions on which it was announced on Monday, reported that "at the moment, official letters from Microsoft, Oracle and Symance with the refusal of cooperation in the address of the credit organization did not arrive. "

In the corporation Microsoft declined to comment, in Oracle and HP did not respond to the query "Newspapers.Ru". "Symantec traditionally does not comment on the geopolitical situation. We are doing everything to follow the legitimate requirements of the countries in which we operate, whether local or international, "said Symantec regional director for Russia, CIS and Israel, Andrei Vyshlov.

On the first anti-Russian sanctions in connection with the annexation of the Crimea and the Moscow's course towards Ukraine in Washington, it was announced on March 21: 27 citizens of the Russian Federation and the Rossiya bank fell under them. The second wave of punitive measures, US President Barack Obama announced on Monday. This time the list was replenished by 17 Russian companies working in the energy, banking and infrastructure sectors - Aquanika LLC, Avia Group LLC, Avia Group Nord, Zest, Investcapitalbank, Sobinbank, Sakhatrans , SMP Bank, Stroygazmontazh, Stroytransgaz, Stroytransgaz-M, IK Abros, Transoil, Volga Group.

It is assumed that all property and funds of companies and banks that fall under sanctions located in the United States are blocked and can not be transferred, bought out, exported or be subject to financial transactions. In addition, US companies are required to limit their cooperation with the persons involved in the sanctions list. In particular, the payment systems Visa and MasterCard after the announcement of the second round of sanctions blocked the maintenance of SMP Bank and Investkapitalbank cards. Such actions by American payment systems prompted Moscow to step up efforts to create a Russian national payment system that would not depend on political decisions of other countries.

Russian banks expect that they will not have serious difficulties after curtailing cooperation with the leading IT producers of the United States. "In all that concerns information technology, there should not be problems: in the case of Microsoft, the termination of a license is just a cessation of support, but not equipment. As for the purchase of equipment, there are roundabout ways, it's not a secret for anyone, "- hopes a source close to the bank, which came under sanctions.

"The biggest vulnerability on the part of Microsoft is not Windows, but the Microsoft.Net software environment, in which the closed code and components of which are not fully disclosed to developers. It's like putting a black box in the room and not asking what's inside. It will be much safer for enterprises to use open source software, "Chernogorov said.

But he does not see a serious danger for the banking sector: the system-forming banks were ready for an accelerated transition to Russian software. "In a number of positions, banks will also be able to replace Western hardware with Chinese or Korean hardware. Despite the fact that the banking sector is most vulnerable to sanctions, it turned out to be the most ready to work in the new conditions. The situation is more complex for manufacturing companies, which are much more dependent on imported IT technologies, "Chernogorov emphasizes.

This situation can provoke the creation of a new IT industry, already Russian, including the increased development of its own software and hardware. While Russian companies are 92% provided with foreign software and IT-technologies.

"Now there is no question of whether you need to create your own Russian software or not. And from conversations about import substitution we pass to concrete actions. The introduction of sanctions showed us in which country the "switch" is located and that it can be turned off at any moment, "says Olga Uskova, president of the National Association of Innovation and Information Technology Development (NAIRIT).

Not even those who use industrial IT solutions from Microsoft or Oracle are more likely to suffer from sanctions, and those strategic enterprises that use SAP software to manage key business processes, and most in Russia (70-80% of all companies Of the top 100). SAP solutions will find it harder to find a replacement, Chernogorov warns. "The shutdowns of Microsoft and Oracle are only the first link in the chain of outages in Russia. SAP has not yet announced its accession to sanctions against Russia, "he notes.

In contracts, the moment of force majeure is prescribed, in which case companies may stop supplying services and equipment, but the situation in Russia is not a force majeure, Uskova said. "This was not the case in world practice - so that the largest producers would go against politicians to the detriment of their business and the business of their partners. The country that we considered the founder of a free business, now indicates to its companies, in which countries to work, and in which countries it does not, "she is indignant. According to her, companies and banks with whom they can terminate contracts will suffer damage and have the right to sue IT companies and demand compensation for losses.