Cisco Systems has become the latest international technology company to start winding-down its business in Russia and Ukraine.

The Silicon Valley-based network hardware and telecoms equipment provider first stopped all its business, including sales and services, in Russia and Belarus in March – immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Yesterday (23 June), Cisco confirmed that it will be following other global tech companies in completely pulling out of the two countries, ahead of an upcoming law that could potentially penalise them for leaving.

“We have now made the decision to begin an orderly wind-down of our business in Russia and Belarus. We are focused on ensuring impacted employees in Russia and Belarus are treated with respect and have our support through this transition,” the company wrote in a statement.

“Cisco remains committed to using all its resources to help our employees, the institutions and people of Ukraine, and our customers and partners during this challenging time.”

Cisco also said that it is in close contact with its employees in Ukraine, where it is offering temporary relocation, allowances for unexpected expenses and emergency time-off to those affected.

This exit follows the recent wind down of IBM in Russia earlier this month, when it announced it has started laying-off staff in response to the war. IBM is a competitor of Cisco in the technology space in Russia, and their exit can spell bad news for Russian businesses in the short term.

Microsoft also began significantly scaling-down its business in Russia earlier this month, three months after the tech giant joined Apple and SAP in suspending sales in the country.

Reuters reported that Cisco is part of a growing group of businesses fleeing the country ahead of a new law, to be in place within weeks, that will see Russian administrators appointed over exiting companies owned by people in countries deemed ‘unfriendly’ by the government.

“We will communicate directly with customers, partners, and vendors to settle our financial matters, including refunding prepaid service and software arrangements, to the extent permissible under applicable laws and regulations,” Cisco added.

10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.

The post Cisco latest tech comapny to pull out of Russia and Belarus appeared first on Silicon Republic.