Ukraine calls for the games industry to ban Russia
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 24: Anti-war demonstrators and Ukrainians living in the U.S. protest against Russia's military operation in Ukraine in Lafayette Park on February 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine still ongoing, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, in the country’s latest attempt to pressure the Russians into calling off the invasion has urged all gaming companies including Microsoft and Sony to stop serving Russian users.
Fedorov did this by writing an open letter to the games industry calling for them to temporarily stop support for Russia and Belarus, suggesting that these actions will “motivate the citizens of Russia to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression.”
The Ukrainian deputy prime minister in a tweet also stated that if the companies support human values, they should leave the Russian market “You are definitely aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now. Russia declare war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world. If you support human values, you should [leave] the Russian market!”
It should be noted that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine many in the games industry have thrown their support behind the Ukrainian people denouncing Russia’s invasion and amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations so far.
Russian troops moved into Ukraine in late February in a devastating and unprovoked attack on the country. Fighting has continued to intensify since then, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the country as refugees. The United Nations reported Tuesday that there had been hundreds of civilian causalities. “The real toll is likely to be much higher,” U.N. human rights office spokesperson Liz Throssel said, as reported by Reuters.
