On the February 24, 2022 - exactly 21 days ago, Putin’s Russia, together with help from Belarus, attacked a sovereign nation of Ukraine šŗš¦. As a team that’s based in Poland (which borders with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine) we couldn’t be just a bystanders of this.
First we decided to help Ukraine by sending money to support Ukrainian refugees and offering Nozbe for free for all Ukrainians and organizations helping Ukraine. Yesterday we announced on our Russian website that we’ve decided to cut off Russian and Belarusian users from access to Nozbe. Here’s my full statement which I published in Russian, translated to English:
As a founder of Nozbe, unfortunately I have some bad news for our Russian and Belarusian Nozbe users. This Friday, March 18 2022, all access to Nozbe for all of you will be closed indefinitely.
We’ll be shutting down access to both Nozbe Personal and the new Nozbe for all citizens, organizations and companies from Russia and Belarus.
As Poles, your neighbors, we are very sorry that we must do this. However, we cannot just watch with clear conscience how your governments together with your military forces are attacking a sovereign nation of Ukraine šŗš¦.
Your rockets are bombing entire cities, destroying civilian houses, hospitals and schools. Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have already died because of these actions and hundreds of thousands have lost their homes and are being forced to flee to neighboring countries.
As Poles, while we’re helping Ukraine as much as we can, we’re terribly sorry to see that your countries of Russia and Belarus are causing this genocide. This unnecessary war!
If you’re a user of Nozbe Personal or the new Nozbe, formerly known as Nozbe Teams, you will lose access to it on Friday evening, March 18, 2022.
If you are a paying customer, you will not receive a refund. Instead of giving you money back, we will calculate it and give all of it to organizations that are coordinating Ukrainian relief efforts.
We are hoping that together we will bring back the peace to the world. Such a war like the one happening now in Ukraine mustn’t ever take place.
FAQ: Clarification regarding Nozbeās restrictions against Russia and Belarus.
Thank you for supporting us in our tough decision to cut off Nozbe for Russia and Belarus. We are currently facing an unprecedented situation. Never in our 15-year history have we witnessed an outbreak of war in our region. And weāve never cut off any users from access to Nozbe. We are a global company and our core value is enabling anyone to get their things effectively organized.
However, itās also the first time weāre facing a truly extraordinary situation where part of our users represent a country which is actively attacking another, independent country by dropping rockets, killing civilians and destroying their homes.
Why are we cutting off Russian users from Nozbe?
Poland, where Nozbe originates from, borders directly with Ukraine, as well as Russia and Belarus. Weāve put ourselvesĀ in the shoes ofĀ Ukrainians. If Russia started dropping rockets on Poland and destroying our homes, would we be thinking about how to keep their access to Nozbe?
Unfortunately, observing the situation we need to assume that Russians support Putin and his war crimes. We donāt know how much of this is affected by Russian propaganda. Until they stop this senseless war, we need to assume that they are endorsing it. This is especially painful for us, as we have a lot of friends in Russia and Belarus. Please, end this war right now!
What about Russian users who paid for Nozbe?
We have calculated all payments made by Russian and Belarusian users within the last year and symbolically donated it to help Ukraine.
Especially that right now the number of Ukrainian refugees that have entered Poland has exceeded 2 million, and itās growing by thousands every day. A lot of people need our help.
But we didnāt take anyoneās money! Weāve shut down access to Nozbe for Russia and Belarus. Moreover, due to sanctions imposed on Russian banks, currently we donāt even have the technical possibility to return any funds to these users.
We hope for peace and then weāll be able to bring Nozbe back to those users. Then weāll restore their paid accounts according to their status on March 18, 2022.
Can Nozbe cut off its service in other countries in the future?
Weād like to emphasize that weāre facing an unprecedented situation. Nozbe, along with the entire European Union and most Western companies, are imposing sanctions on Russia and Belarus, as they are responsible for the attack on theĀ sovereignĀ state of Ukraine. For starting war in Europe.
More than 140 UN member states voted that Russia attacked Ukraine and started war.
Irrespective of this situation, Nozbe is used by users of all kinds of political views, from all over the world. We want things to stay this way!
By the way, where are Nozbeās servers located?
Nozbeās servers are located in Germany, with backup servers in Ireland, Japan and Australia. Access to Nozbe is protected against any unexpected events. We are a global company and we want to offer our services to the whole world!
