Slack and Miro in Russia: what stopped working and how to save your data

If your Slack workspace has stopped letting you in and Miro has left you with only the free plan, your internet provider has nothing to do with it: both services restricted accounts linked to Russia, citing US sanctions. We look at what has been closed and since when, how to save your work data with the services’ built-in tools, and why a VPN does almost nothing here.

Why Slack doesn’t work for Russian accounts: three waves of shutdowns

Slack is part of Salesforce and follows US sanctions rules. The company described how it left the Russian market in its post “Access restrictions in Russia and the recently embargoed regions of Ukraine” of March 22, 2022, which it later updated on March 28, 2022, and February 15, 2023.

• March 2022. Slack disabled the accounts of Russian organizations and individuals on the US Treasury’s SDN sanctions list. According to Engadget, citing Axios, some organizations lost access without warning. At the same time, Slack stopped selling paid plans in Russia, began moving Russian customers to the free plan at the end of their paid period, and stopped allowing new workspaces and new free accounts to be created from within Russia.
• March 2023. The company also ended free service in Russia and suspended the remaining Russian workspaces, warning users in advance.
• June 2024. Users received emails saying, “Our data indicates that your account is based in Russia,” and that it would be suspended in 30 days (CNews, June 15, 2024, citing RIA Novosti). According to Vesti, Slack cited US sanctions and export control laws, and according to a representative of MTS Link, such emails also reached companies that had bought their licenses abroad.

The trigger for the 2024 wave was a decision by the US Treasury adopted on June 12, 2024. Since September 12, 2024, a number of IT services may not be supplied to any person located in Russia: consulting and design, as well as support and cloud services for corporate software, meaning enterprise management systems and the programs used to design and manufacture products (OFAC FAQ 1184). Judging by quotes from the emails, Slack disabled accounts that are based in Russia, are used mainly by users in Russia, or are otherwise linked to distribution of the service in the country.

Miro left Russia halfway: paid plans closed, the free plan stayed

Miro took its first step in the spring of 2022. In its statement “Update from the Miro Team,” the company announced that it was closing its Russian office, pausing new sales in Russia and Belarus (it had not sold there directly, only through a few resellers), and suspending licenses for customers on international sanctions lists, while promising to keep supporting individual users and customers in the two countries. The post’s page carries no date; EWDN wrote on March 21, 2022, that it had come out a week earlier.

The second step came in 2024, after the same US Treasury decision.

• August 10, 2024. Users in Russia and Belarus received emails saying that from September 12 Miro would stop serving accounts accessed from IP addresses in these countries, and that from October 11 it would close access completely (ComNews).
• August 16, 2024. A Miro representative replied on the service’s forum that the measure applied only to accounts registered in Russia and Belarus.
• August 21, 2024. iXBT summarized a new email: after consulting international trade specialists, Miro concluded that it could keep serving free accounts, and the shutdown concerned paid subscriptions.
• September 11, 2024. A reply on the Miro forum says that free users in Russia and Belarus would keep access after September 12. Paid customers who no longer live in these countries are advised to update their billing information; if that is impossible, the subscription runs until the end of the paid period, after which the account becomes free, and the boards and their content remain.

Miro’s free plan is noticeably more limited than the paid ones. According to the pricing page, it lets you edit 3 boards, and exports are available only in low resolution. Downloading frames in high resolution as JPG or PDF and manual board backups start with the paid Starter plan.

Our October 10, 2026 check: the websites load

The home pages of slack.com, app.slack.com and miro.com were requested by Globalping probes, an open network of measurement points, at 23:13–23:14 UTC. Our server abroad also sent one direct request to each, without a VPN connection. The measurement tool does not run JavaScript and sees only the beginning of a page; we did not enter any workspaces or boards.

Conclusion: the Slack and Miro pages load from Russia, and both services’ restrictions apply to accounts. Without logging in, app.slack.com shows the same home page as slack.com, so this measurement does not test whether a workspace itself works. A server returns code 429 when too many requests arrive from one address. Globalping probes share addresses with other people’s measurements, so a single such response does not show that Slack restricts Russian networks.

How to export your data from Slack and save your Miro boards

If you still have access, save your data now rather than waiting for an email. In March 2022, according to Engadget, some organizations lost access without warning: Slack did not delete their data, but the owners could not get to it until the sanctions were lifted.

• Slack export. Exports are started by workspace owners and admins in the settings, under “Import & export data.” On the Free and Pro plans, the archive includes messages from public channels and links to files, and on Free only to files from the last 90 days. Private channels and direct messages can be exported on Business+ and higher if Slack approves an application. The archive comes as a ZIP file containing JSON files.
• If the workspace has already been disabled. Slack operates under the Salesforce Main Services Agreement. Under its section 2.7, the company may end free services at its own discretion and without notice, and exporting data in advance is the customer’s own responsibility; if the company itself closes the account, it gives a reasonable opportunity to retrieve the data unless the law requires otherwise. Under section 2.2, after the agreement ends, data is provided on a request made within 30 days. In its post about Russia, Slack wrote that where the law allowed, it notified users in advance about export options, and it suggested disputing a mistaken block by writing to feedback@slack.com.
• Miro boards. Under section 4.4 of Miro’s terms, you can export your content during your subscription and for 30 days after it, after which the company may delete it. The free plan exports only in low resolution; high-resolution frames and board backups are on paid plans, which, according to 2024 reports, are no longer sold to accounts registered in Russia.

What a VPN won’t change: what Slack’s and Miro’s terms say

Since both services’ pages open from Russia, the issue is not access to the websites. The restrictions are tied to the account, and the services explicitly reserve the right to disable it.

• Slack. Section 12.1 of the Salesforce agreement (version of September 1, 2026) prohibits the customer from letting users access the service in US-embargoed countries and regions (currently listed as Crimea, the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria) or in violation of US export law. Russia is not named on that list, but the US Treasury decision on certain IT services covers any person located in Russia. In its “Global Trade Compliance” help article, Slack adds that people located in a country or region with restricted access may be prevented from creating an account or blocked from using the service. Judging by the 2024 emails, Slack determines an account’s link to Russia from its own data, and a foreign IP address changes neither your billing details nor your account history.
• Miro. Section 2.9(h) of Miro’s terms prohibits circumventing the service’s access restrictions, section 6 allows Miro to suspend access for a breach of section 2.9, and section 20.11(b) prohibits using the service in violation of US export embargoes, prohibitions and restrictions.

So a VPN is not a way to get back a disabled Slack workspace or to buy a paid Miro plan, and trying to get around the restrictions may cost you the account. A foreign address makes sense only if the pages of these services themselves stop loading on your network: that did not happen in our measurement, but every network is different. Similar stories of two other work tools are covered in our article what happened to Figma and Notion in Russia.

If the pages won’t load: a trial through the Netherlands, Germany or Georgia

If slack.com or miro.com won’t load on your network while your account is fine, test a foreign address for free: the Liberum VPN trial lasts 7 days, and you won’t need a bank card. There are no guarantees, since we did not open these websites through a Liberum VPN connection, but it may work in your case. Here is how: go to the Liberum VPS bot, activate the free trial, choose a location in the Netherlands, Germany or Georgia, put the subscription link the bot gives you into a client app (Happ is one option), turn on the connection and go to the website you need. The location’s IP address is not yours alone: other people using the service connect through it too. Countries and prices are listed on the home page: Liberum VPN locations abroad and pricing.

What we don’t promise

• That your account won’t be blocked. The Salesforce agreement (sections 2.7 and 12.1) and Miro’s terms (sections 2.9(h) and 6) allow access to be suspended, and a VPN does not erase your account’s link to Russia.
• That a disabled Slack workspace will come back. Slack disabled accounts based on its own data about their link to Russia, not on the address you connect from.
• That a paid Miro plan can be purchased. According to 2024 reports, paid subscriptions for accounts registered in Russia have been discontinued.
• That the websites will open through our location. We checked them with Globalping probes and with a request sent straight from our server abroad, not through a Liberum VPN connection.
• That the services’ rules will stay the same. Since 2022, Slack and Miro have changed their approach to Russia more than once, and our measurement is a snapshot of a single evening. The legal side of using a VPN itself is covered in our explainer on whether VPN use is lawful in Russia.

Key takeaways

• Since 2022, Slack has been winding down its work in Russia: first it disabled accounts on the sanctions list and paid plans, in March 2023 it ended free service, and in June 2024 it sent notices about suspending accounts linked to Russia.
• In 2022, Miro closed its Russian office and stopped sales, and in 2024 it ended paid subscriptions for accounts registered in Russia while keeping the free plan.
• On October 10, 2026, slack.com and miro.com loaded from Russia: the restrictions apply to accounts, not to pages.
• Export your Slack data and Miro boards in advance with the built-in tools: once access is cut off, you have fewer options.
• A VPN does not bring back disabled accounts; if the websites themselves won’t load, you can try a Liberum VPN location abroad at no cost for 7 days.