Respectable citizens treat prohibition of Russian Internet resources as censorship, forgetting it’s business.
UCMC presents an abridged version of Crimea.Realia’s article.
Prohibition of Yandex and VKontakte is very similar to prohibiting artists supporting Russian annexation of Crimea to sing in Ukraine.
Top artists of Russian show biz used tto gather full concert halls in four Ukrainian million cities. Twice a year. Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv and Dnipro could provide Russian singers with eight concerts in total. Considering that the average fee of a top singer is something around $15,000, the yearly loss from the prohibition reaches $ 120,000. Multiply it by three, as usually Ukraine bans the entry for three years – and we arrive at the sum of $ 360,000.
This is how much a Russia artist loses because of one concert he gave in the annexed Crimea.
Sanctions are instrumental, they act as a whip. Failure to comply with Ukrainian law threatens an individual or a legal entity with a loss of Ukrainian market. Its capacity is sufficiently large for the one withdrawing from it to incur significant financial loss. In this regard, there is no difference between a pop star and a large Internet company.
Social media, antivirus and search engines – these are not charity, but business. The same Russian businesses which does not differ much from a factory or airline company. Its aim is exactly the same like any other player’s in the market: making money. Ukrainian market used to be valuable for all these companies in terms of its size and capital capacity.
Any talks about “the prohibition affecting consumers” are no different from complaints on absence of direct flight connection with the Russian Federation, for direct flights with Russia didn’t fall prey to Ukrainian voluntarism. They became impossible because Russian airline companies were violating Ukrainian air space by flying to the Simferopol airport.
Prohibition of VKontakte, Yandex or Kaspersky Laboratory is not about prohibition of using their products, but about reducing their potential profit. Modern word has got many opportunities to bypass blocking, and the experience of our neighboring country, Russia, confirms it. However, new sanctions render work of particular Russian legal entities in the territory of Ukraine impossible.
Someone can say that this prohibition inflicts collateral damage to the Ukrainian party. Perhaps it does. Russian airlines were using Ukrainian companies to service their aircrafts. Russian singers were booking rooms in Ukrainian hotels and eating in Ukrainian restaurants. Essentially this doesn’t change anything.
Any defense means expenses. Army costs money, as well as weapons, and if you believe that combat activity in modern warfare occurs in the frontline only – you are badly misinformed and sadly mistaken.
People now talk a lot about new sanctions that will make Ukrainian users change their usual routine. We can only be happy for them. Any war means leaving a comfort zone, and if all you had to sacrifice are digital products of the aggressor country, you are an awfully happy person. Many people weren’t so lucky.
Go ask the IDPs.