Content delivery network (CDN), Edge, and web infrastructure companies Cloudflare and Akamai will continue to operate in Russia.
Both companies argued that it was better to help provide access to accurate information in the country, but said that they condemned Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said that he had received "several calls to terminate" all business inside Russia, potentially referencing an appeal by cybersecurity startup SOC Prime that called out AWS, Akamai, and Cloudflare.
Prince said that, while the company has ceased business with sanctioned entities, Cloudflare's view "is that Russia needs more Internet access, not less."
He added: "As the conflict has continued, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in requests from Russian networks to worldwide media, reflecting a desire by ordinary Russian citizens to see world news beyond that provided within Russia."
He claimed that the Russian government "would celebrate us shutting down Cloudflare's services in Russia," continuing: "We absolutely appreciate the spirit of many Ukrainians making requests across the tech sector for companies to terminate services in Russia. However, when what Cloudflare is fundamentally providing is a more open, private, and secure Internet, we believe that shutting down Cloudflare's services entirely in Russia would be a mistake."
Akamai said that it has suspended new sales in Russia and Belarus, and ended contracts with state-majority-owned customers. But, it said in a statement, "made a deliberate decision to maintain our network presence in Russia," so that citizens can get access to "vital and accurate information."
Internet backbone Cogent has ceased all business with Russia, while Lumen has reduced its operations there. Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle have also suspended work in the country, along with Apple, Netflix, Sabre, Ericsson, PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa.
Amazon Web Services said that it "has no data centers, infrastructure, or offices in Russia, and we have a long-standing policy of not doing business with the Russian government."
