Originally published 2022-03-02.
On Tuesday 1 March 2022, five days after Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Apple announced that it had paused all product sales in Russia. The company said it had already stopped shipping goods into its Russian sales channel the week before, had limited Apple Pay and other services, and had removed the Russian state-backed outlets RT and Sputnik from the App Store everywhere outside Russia. It was one of the first and most visible moves in a wave of corporate withdrawals that would eventually involve around a thousand companies.
Here is exactly what Apple did and did not do, why it mattered, how it fitted into the wider sanctions picture, and what the episode showed about how global companies respond to war.
What Apple announced
Apple's statement set out a list of measures in one go. "We have paused all product sales in Russia," it said, before describing the halt on exports and the restrictions on its payment service. The company said it was "deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine" and was supporting humanitarian work and its own staff in the region.
The key measures were:
- Sales paused: new iPhones, Macs, iPads and other Apple products could no longer be bought from Apple in Russia. Apple had no physical shops in the country, so in practice this meant its online store.
- Exports stopped: shipments into Apple's Russian sales channel had already been halted the previous week.
- Apple Pay and services limited: a company spokesperson confirmed that Apple Pay was restricted, partly reflecting sanctions on Russian banks.
- RT and Sputnik removed: the two state-funded news apps were no longer available for download from the App Store outside Russia.
- Apple Maps in Ukraine: traffic and live incident information were switched off in Ukraine as a safety precaution for civilians, since live data can reveal movements on the ground.
Apple closed its statement by saying it was in contact with governments about its actions and would keep evaluating the situation. "We join all those around the world who are calling for peace," it said.
What the pause did not mean
The announcement was sweeping, but it had limits worth spelling out. Halting Apple's own sales and exports did not instantly remove Apple devices from Russia. Phones already in the country stayed in use, and stock already held by retailers did not disappear overnight. The App Store also remained reachable for most Russian users; the measures did not fully cut them off from apps, updates or Apple's services.
That distinction mattered to Ukraine. A few days earlier, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister and digital minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, had written publicly to Apple chief executive Tim Cook asking the company to stop selling products and services in Russia and to block access to the App Store there. Apple went partway. Some analysts thought even that was a bold step for a company that usually avoids taking sides in geopolitics; tech analyst Gene Munster suggested Apple was balancing a strong statement against restraint.
How important was Russia to Apple?
For Apple, Russia was a meaningful but modest market. Munster, of Loup Ventures, estimated that it accounted for around 2% of Apple's global revenue, or more than $7 billion a year, at a time when the company's annual revenue exceeded $365 billion. According to the research firm IDC, the iPhone was the third most popular smartphone brand in Russia, behind Samsung and Xiaomi.
That scale helps explain why Apple could act quickly. The financial cost was real but containable, while the reputational cost of carrying on as normal during a widely condemned invasion could have been far higher, especially with customers and staff in Europe and North America.
The wider corporate exodus
Apple was far from alone. In the first days of March 2022, companies across almost every industry announced pauses, suspensions or exits:
- Film studios: Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Universal and Paramount halted or paused theatrical releases in Russia, including big titles due out that spring.
- Streaming and media: Netflix refused to carry the 20 Russian state television channels that a new Russian rule required it to offer, and later suspended its service in the country altogether.
- Social media: Facebook, Twitter and TikTok took steps to limit Russian state propaganda on their platforms.
- Energy and industry: ExxonMobil, Volkswagen and many others announced they would wind down or pause operations.
- Consumer brands: McDonald's, which owned most of its roughly 850 Russian restaurants, closed them and later sold the business to a local owner. The outlets reopened under a new name, Vkusno i tochka.
Researchers at the Yale School of Management kept a running list of companies leaving or reducing business in Russia. It counted around 350 by mid-March 2022 and close to 1,000 by early May, though the degree of withdrawal varied widely, from full exits to simple pauses in new investment.
The sanctions backdrop
Corporate decisions unfolded alongside some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed on a major economy. On 28 February 2022, Western governments blocked Russia's central bank from accessing roughly $300 billion of the foreign currency reserves it held abroad, about half of its total. Within days, Western allies agreed to cut a number of major Russian banks off from SWIFT, the messaging network banks use to process international payments.
The rouble fell sharply in the days after the invasion, and many Russians reportedly rushed to withdraw cash amid fears for their savings. Sanctions on Russian banks, and card networks' later decisions to suspend Russian operations, also helped explain why services such as Apple Pay stopped working smoothly. For companies, the legal risk of breaching sanctions and the practical difficulty of moving money and goods added to the moral pressure to step back.
Common misunderstandings
"Russia was removed from SWIFT." Not as a whole country. The measures targeted specific banks, and some large banks handling energy payments were reportedly left connected at first.
"Apple banned Russians from using iPhones." No. Apple stopped selling new products and limited some services; existing devices kept working.
"Every company that announced a pause left Russia." Pauses, suspensions and full exits were different things, and some firms that paused operations later resumed or sold local units with buy-back options.
Why the decision still matters
Apple's move showed how quickly a consumer technology company can become part of a geopolitical response. It used several levers at once: commercial (sales and exports), financial (payments), informational (state media apps) and safety-related (map data in a war zone). That combination has since become a reference point for how tech firms are expected to act when a country launches an invasion. It also showed the limits of corporate action: a pause in sales sends a clear message, but it does not by itself end a war.
Sources: NPR, 1 March 2022: Apple pauses sales in Russia and stops all exports; Sky News (original reporting and Apple statement); Wikipedia: Corporate responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Wikipedia: International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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