Return Yandex Music to the Sonos app 

Politics includes agents of economic activity.  There is no legal right involved here. In any event, war crimes trump blackmail, even if that were the case. 

You pay for the hardware and its associated firmware not for any particular media stream. There is no contractual obligation for Sonos to explain anything about the availability of any given media service. 

I used to be a big fan IoT. Everything I use is connected to a server somehow with a centralised service. 

After experiencing sanctions against the Russian state (I’m not russian, but i’m living here) I have come to realise that I can never recommend products like Sonos anymore. It’s not only Sonos actually. Spotify, Netflix etc. you get the point. In the future we will have other conflicts.

It’s all bollocks and politics. Only the user is suffering. Did the american state sanction Yandex music? They didn’t and this all based on emotions of Sonos. Did EU ask Spotify to shut down their service in Russia? No they didn’t. It was Spotify who decided to do that. 

So the end result is that I cannot recommend services proven unreliable and I cannot recommend Sonos anymore, because Sonos as a system is made for interacting with streaming services. If I want good quality music from my own NAS server there are many other brands cheaper out there who works wirelessly in my house. (They aren’t as cool, but they won’t block me based on emotions)

Don’t think this will only affect your sales in Russia. It won’t. The word will spread like a fire, because this is not only about Russia, it’s about reliability. Why do other states by natural gas from Gas Prom? Because they are reliable (EU basically stole 300 billion EUR from Russia, but Russia still adheres to their contracts and continues to deliver gas to thieves). Sonos just proved unreliable. I can imagine Arab and Chinese citizens getting worried about purchasing Sonos equipment in the future. 

Not today, because I also have a life, but I intend to write this message in the other Sonos support forums just to give a heads up for my fellow Sonos users who I believe might soon be in a conflict with US and EU. 

Kind regards
Very disappointed EU citizen. 

This is why I still buy my music on CD or Vinyl or as a last resort I buy a download. I am then immune from this sort of issue and others such cancel culture removing tracks over ironic lyrics. 
IoT is not what it started out being. 

Sonos is within their right to cut any ties with Russian companies, especially since Yandex has ties with people on the EU sanctions list: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/16/yandex-head-quits-after-surprise-eu-sanctions-a76952

And if you really believe Gazprom is reliable after leaving their European gas storeages empty during 2021, only allowing to be paid in rubles and that the money on frozen accounts was stolen, you are in too deep already.

The illegal war being prosecuted by the Russian Federation is the epitomy of cancel culture - it cancels the lives of men, women and children under the guise of sham denazification.  It cancels the writ of international law.  It cancels the rights of its own citizens who protest.  It cancels the proud role the USSR held in defeating Hitlerism. It debases the memory of all those who fought against the Third Reich.

If you as an individual wish to access Yandex via your own means, then that's your choice and your business. 

I mostly agree.  However, on some issues, there isn’t neutral ground to stand on.  Even when neutral ground does exist, it’s often the case that one side or both on an issue see neutral ground as no different then taking the opposite view.

“silence is violence”

“evil triumphs when good men do nothing”

I’m not saying that there is no neutral ground in this case, as I really don’t know the content of Yandex or their relationship with the Russian government, but I certainly wouldn’t assume that neutral ground is available.

blackmail - the action, treated as a criminal offense, of demanding payment or another benefit from someone in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them.

This is not blackmail.  There is nothing lllegal or morally wrong with a company or individual setting setting terms in which they will or will not interact or do business with another company or individual.  And nothing wrong with changing those terms as circumstances change.  You and I may not think the terms are moral in some instance, but the act of setting terms itself isn’t illegal or immoral.

I do agree though that it would be good for Sonos to more clearly state whether they have actively terminated the Yandex service, rather then leave it up to customers to guess.

And it’s just my opinion, but I don’t see a ton of difference between a company saying they don’t want to do business with Yandex and a customer saying they don’t want to do business with Sonos.  Both are taking steps based on their point of view and self interest.  I would be a hypocrite if I said that I was any different.  And I think it’s important to considering forgiveness when whatever the conflict is over, or views change...while never forgetting.