The American company Zoom has restricted the use of its software for Russian state-owned companies.

This was announced by the IT Directorate of the Higher School of Economics.

They clarified that the Higher School of Economics will no longer be able to use a corporate license in Zoom. 

"Restrictions on Russian legal entities with state participation were introduced unilaterally by Zoom Video Communications," the statement said.

The IT Directorate added that, according to available information, the restriction affects all Russian organizations with state participation, including other universities, while individuals can freely buy licenses.

Over the past few months, the University has held a series of negotiations on the issue of extending the service with an American company and its representative in Russia, OOO Raitconf, but so far HSE has been refused.

In turn, the press service of Zoom Video Communications told TASS that the company's head office in the United States is clarifying the information that has appeared on the suspension of sales of the service to these institutions and will be able to provide any information after conducting its own check.

"It seems that this information is based on a message from one of the agencies involved in sales on an affiliate basis," - said the press service.

The Kommersant newspaper was the first to report the ban on Zoom Video Communications from selling access to the online conference service for government agencies of the Russian Federation, citing a letter from Raitconf to its partners.

The letter informed about the withdrawal by the company of authorization to sell the service for these categories of institutions.

It is noted that the authenticity of the letter to the newspaper was confirmed by the general director of "Raitconf" Andrey Petrenko, specifying that the restrictions apply not only to Russia, but also to the CIS countries.

He also noted that work on existing contracts will continue.

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In a conversation with RT, Andrey Petrenko confirmed that the rules for the provision of Zoom services for state-owned companies in Russia will change, but he found it difficult to say what caused this.

“There may be ten reasons, but believe me, no one bans or prohibits buying.

Schools and universities, if they are state-owned, they must supply supplies according to federal law, ”he said.

Petrenko added that Zoom's public offer states that the company "does not guarantee anything to anyone, the application may not work at any time."

The presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the situation, said that Vladimir Putin and the administration staff do not use Zoom for official purposes.

According to him, the service was involved in a number of international contacts that were not organized by the Russian side.

The Kremlin spokesman specified that the administration of the head of state has closed communication channels for videoconferencing.

“In general, of course, one can express regret and misunderstanding why Russian state institutions, why higher educational institutions are now also deprived of the opportunity to promptly renew existing contracts and sign new ones,” RIA Novosti quotes him.

At the same time, Peskov said that a possible Zoom solution could spur the work of Russian developers of similar services, which could be a good alternative.

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A similar opinion was expressed by the Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov, recalling that there is a Spherum system in Russia. 

“This is our domestic video conferencing system, so we are ready for any situation and, of course, we will focus more on our software, but, of course, this will support the traditional education system,” he said during a press conference at the Rossiya Today".

In turn, the deputy head of the Ministry of Digital Industry Maxim Parshin recalled that Russia has developed five video communication systems that can become an alternative to Zoom.

He called the company's decision to restrict access for Russian government agencies a confirmation that Russia needs to develop its own technology platforms.

The Ministry of Education and Science also confirmed that the situation will not affect the work of universities in Russia, explaining that in 2020, licenses for videoconferencing based on TrueConf solutions were purchased for the needs of the department, and Zoom is not used in the activities of the ministry.

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications Sergei Boyarsky, in a conversation with RT, noted that Zoom's actions can be regarded as unfriendly.

“We continue to softly but consistently oppose each other in the digital space, this also applies to the unfriendly actions of some social networks, now this conference call service,” the deputy said.

He also stressed the need to develop Russian analogs of video communication services.

“Indeed, during the pandemic, everyone began to look for ways to conduct their meetings, conferences using remote systems, including Zoom.

Fortunately, this is not the only system that allows you to do this, ”added Boyarsky.