After China, now Russian government is trying to reduce the reliance on Microsoft and other US based tech companies in governmental agencies. The reason seems to be the same security issues cited by China. They fear that the backdoors and bugs in software will allow suppliers access to confidential data. Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Oracle and SAP had combined revenue of $8.1 billion from Russia last year, and if Russia is going to move forward with their current plans, then these companies may get affected on sales.
The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, is drafting a bill to require government agencies and state-run enterprises to give preference to local providers of software and hardware, according to a document from the commission for strategic information systems obtained by Bloomberg News. The paper addresses criteria for tender processes such as favoring products that don’t have imported, licensed components.
“This all has to do with sanctions,” Andrey Chernogorov, executive secretary of the commission, said in a phone interview. “Given the current international tensions, substituting imports with local software and hardware becomes the key to ensuring self sufficiency.”
Read more about it from Bloomberg.