DJI will temporarily stop doing business in Russia and Ukraine. The move marks a rare exit from Russia by a prominent Chinese company since the war started, and comes after Ukrainian authorities claimed that DJI’s drones were being used by the Russian military.
DJI is internally reassessing compliance requirements in various jurisdictions. Pending the current review, DJI will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine. We are engaging with customers, partners and other stakeholders regarding the temporary suspension of business operations in the affected territories.
Last month, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov posted an open letter on Twitter to Frank Wang, DJI’s founder and CEO.
In the letter, he alleged that Russian troops were “using DJI products in order to navigate” missile attacks, and called on the company to stop doing business in Russia until the violence stopped.
The company referred to a previous statement issued in March, where it reiterated that it did not market or sell products for military use and “unequivocally opposed attempts to attach weapons to our products.”
The firm said it had also pledged to cut business ties with distributors if they did not commit to an agreement to refuse sale of DJI’s products “to customers who clearly plan to use them for military purposes, or help modify our products for military use.”
Source: CNN Business