Ukraine Deputy PM Asks PlayStation, Xbox to Stop Support for Russian Markets

Ukraine's vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has called on video game companies, particularly PlayStation and Xbox, to stop supporting and selling to Russian markets.

Fedorov, who is also Minister of Digital Transformation, published an open letter to Twitter Wednesday asking the industry to do "everything possible to protect Ukraine, Europe and finally the entire democratic world from bloody authoritarian aggression."

"@Xbox @PlayStation You are definitely aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now," he tweeted alongside the open letter. "Russia declare war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world. If you support human values, you should live [sic] the Russian market!"

In the letter, Fedorov called for video game companies to "temporarily block all Russian and Belorussian accounts, temporarily stop the participation of Russian and Belorussian teams and gamers in all international esports events and cancel all international events holding on the territory of the Russia and Belarus."

Fedorov believes this will motivate Russian citizens to continue protesting their country's military aggression, leading to an end to the conflict.

Several games companies have committed to aiding humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, and many with employees in the country have supported their efforts to relocate. So far, no major publisher has announced plans to pull a release from Russian markets. Neither Sony nor Microsoft has yet responded to Fedorov's letter.