Namecheap has a large presence in Ukraine, and many of its employees work in offices around the country. A look at Namecheap’s job opening page gives an idea of the breadth of the company’s footprint in Ukraine.
Over the weekend, Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall spoke out about the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
War is always a terrible thing, it’s even worse when many of our own team members are on the ground. Our company stands firmly against Russian aggression and war crimes being committed against the people of Ukraine. Insuring the safety of our colleagues is our number one priority
— Richard Kirkendall (@NamecheapCEO) February 26, 2022
This morning, I learned that Namecheap implemented several actions:
- Namecheap stopped taking payments from Russia for its products and services, and the company is not allowing any new Russian customers to buy from them.
- Namecheap told its existing Russian customers that they need to move their services off of their platform immediately.
- Namecheap stopped selling Russian and Belarusian TLDs.
- Russian IP addresses are being blocked from accessing the company’s website.
In response to a customer’s comment about the impact these actions will have on customers who are Russian citizens but don’t have involvement in the Ukraine situation, Richard apologized for the inconvenience but held firm on the company’s position:
I apologize for that and I sympathize with you and others like you but until your authoritarian government stops committing human rights abuses and engaging in war crimes, this is a policy decision we will stand by.
— Richard Kirkendall (@NamecheapCEO) February 27, 2022
