The War in Ukraine:
Supporting our Customers, Partners, and Communities
February 23, 2023 announcement
Cisco has been committed to helping Ukraine since the start of the war. In March 2022, we stopped all sales in Russia and Belarus, and in June, we made the decision to wind down our business and leave both markets. Our support for Ukraine is ongoing and includes helping defend its critical infrastructure against cyberattacks, establishing Wi-Fi connectivity for Ukrainian refugees, and providing Ukrainians with IT education to build their digital skills and employability through the Cisco4Ukraine initiative.
FAQ
What is Cisco's position on the war between Russia and Ukraine?
At Cisco, we strongly and unequivocally condemn the unjustified war, and the violence that has been unleashed upon innocent civilians.
What is Cisco doing to help employees and their families in Ukraine?
Our number one priority is the safety and security of our employees. We remain in close contact with employees in Ukraine with offers of support in a variety of ways. Some of our employees—together with their families—have relocated, while others have stayed. Cisco continues to support them as best we can in either case.
How is Cisco helping Ukraine with its cyber defense?
Cisco continues working around the clock on a global, companywide effort to protect the people and infrastructure in Ukraine along with our customers and partners. Cisco Talos is at the forefront, providing ongoing monitoring, threat analysis, and response through a special task force. Cisco's Cloud Security products, such as Duo Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Secure Endpoint, are also available to Ukrainian customers free of charge.
What is Cisco's position regarding ongoing business in Russia and Belarus?
In March 2022, we announced that we were stopping business operations in Russia, including sales and services. Our commitment to exit Russia has not changed.
June 23, 2022 Announcement
Since our announcement on March 3, 2022, we have continued to closely monitor the war in Ukraine. We have now made the decision to begin an orderly wind-down of our business in Russia and Belarus. We are focused on helping to ensure that impacted employees in Russia and Belarus are treated with respect and have our support through this transition. 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.
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.
March 3, 2022 announcement to our customers and partners
I want to share an update on our efforts to support Ukraine and the steps we are taking in regard to our business in Russia and Belarus. We know how challenging this situation is and we are here to support you.
Stopping business in Russia and Belarus and providing support for Ukraine
Given the escalation of war, and in support of the Ukrainian government and people there, we are stopping all business operations, including sales and services, in Russia and Belarus for the foreseeable future.
We strongly believe this is the right decision, and we are working with customers and partners in the extended region to help ensure business continuity. We will be in touch with our customers and partners in Russia and Belarus with additional details.
We recognize that many people, including all of our teams, are impacted by this war. To our customers and partners, please know that our Cisco teams are working tirelessly on your behalf and will do their best to answer your questions and provide updates as this develops. If you have immediate questions, please contact your Cisco account team or customerinfo@external.cisco.com
To help those in Ukraine, we are enabling automatic renewals on any software or services for our Ukrainian customers at no charge and offering one free year of Webex Meetings. We are also providing free calls to Ukraine.
Leveraging security
We are also accelerating the work we've been doing over the past few weeks to do all that we can to help protect organizations in Ukraine from cyberattacks, safeguard the privacy of institutions in Ukraine and the region, and help the Ukrainian government secure its infrastructure. The work being done by our Talos threat intelligence research team to monitor the landscape, hunt malicious actors and deploy defenses, while openly sharing its findings is essential in contributing to the safety of our customers globally.
In addition to new security protections that are constantly being updated and rolled out, Talos has put together a team of volunteers who have been hunting threats around the clock and watch over the networks of critical organizations in Ukraine. They are also helping manage Cisco Secure Endpoint configurations with teams of dedicated engineers, and serving as defenders from inside Ukrainian networks.
Our Internet intelligence team at ThousandEyes has also been actively monitoring the Internet activity of dozens of critical Ukrainian websites, enabling government agencies and banks in the region to deploy countermeasures and protect against attacks.
Supporting our people and communities
At the same time, we are deeply focused on the safety of our employees and their families in Ukraine, and doing all that we can to support them, from relocation to financial assistance. We have also established a Ukraine Humanitarian Assistance Fund enabling all of our employees to donate, and we are working with non-profit partners to leverage Cisco equipment and support those who have been able to flee and relocate.
These are incredibly challenging times for Ukraine, and frankly, the world. We know that many Russian people including employees, customers, and partners are impacted by this war. I want to reiterate that this is a time for unity. I am inspired by the support that we have seen within the Cisco community for one another and all of you.
Our deepest hope is that this war will end soon. In the meantime, we are committed to using all the resources we can to help our employees, the institutions and people of Ukraine, and our customers and partners during this challenging time, and we will do all within our power to support those who need it.
