Currently MongoDB blocks access to MongoDB Atlas for users who are located on the territory of Russian Federation, Belarus (and other countries).

MongoDB Support team confirmed this is the case and stated that the reason is US regulations and sanctions, referring only to the blog post published on their website (https://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/mongodb-assistance-ukraine-shut-down-work-russia). The blog post does not mention that the access to users is blocked.

To our best understanding not many other tech companies have implemented such strict measures.

We've also taken the time to delve into the sanctions topic and have reviewed every public release of sanctions on the U.S. Department of State website (Ukraine and Russia Sanctions). Interestingly, we didn't find any information mandating American companies to block users from Russia or Belarus.

Despite the sanctions, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions) authorises transactions related to telecommunications and certain internet-based communications (General License 6C). We came to a conclusion that MongoDB is not legally required to block access for users geographically located in Russia or Belarus.

For our product that is heavily dependant on MongoDB Atlas managed service (including MongoDB Realm) it is crucial to continue to provide access to our clients in Russian Federation and Belarus which make the majority (more than 90%) of our users.

We also operate as a social Christian business and strongly believe that our efforts are valuable in the light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, particularly in fostering compassion and mercy among the Russian population by providing access to spiritual literature.

We hope to discuss the possibility to implement of an exception for our project Teleios Bible (https://www.teleios.bible).