Swedish auto streaming platform Spotify on Wednesday said that they had closed its office in Russia indefinitely in response to what the audio streaming platform described as Moscow’s ‘unprovoked attack on Ukraine’.

Since July 2021, Russian legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin has obliged foreign social media companies with more than 5,00,000 daily users to open local officers or be subject to restrictions as severe as outright bans.

Ahead of the March deadline, only a few companies, including Spotify, have complied.

Since, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, which Moscow calls a ‘special operation’, Western governments have urged companies to push back on Putin in any way possible, Reuters reported.

Spotify said in a statement, “Our priority over the past week has been the safety of our employees and to ensure that Spotify continues to serve as an important source of global and regional news at a time when access to information is more important than ever.”

Spotify said it has reviewed thousands of pieces of content since the start of the war and restricted the discoverability of shows owned and operated by Russian state-affiliated media.