Times New Roman, Arial & other fonts block access for Russians amid Ukraine war: Report

Amid mounting sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the American company Monotype Imaging restricted access to its library on the site for Russians. Font & Technology Specialists, the Monotype Imaging Holding Inc. owns the rights to the Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, and Helvetica fonts. The notification about the access block appears when one tries to open the page. "The site owner may have set restrictions that prevent you from accessing the site," the notification reads, Vedomosti, a Russian daily reported quoting a source in the country's IT company.

The report further stated that the page opens by using a VPN service and the user gets access to the fonts after registering on the platform. It was first discovered on April 11 that the Monotype font library is not available to Russian users. However, as per the report, it's possible that access was restricted much before. The most popular Monotype fonts are currently available to Russian users, for example, in the Microsoft Office package, which discontinued sales in Russia last month. The company's representative declined to comment on the subject of Monotype's involvement in the Russian market,Vedomosti reported. 

Sanctions continue to be imposed on Russia for invading Ukraine

It should be mentioned here that many countries and firms have imposed numerous sanctions on Russia after it launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, which subsequently turned into a full-fledged war. Earlier on Wednesday, April 13, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss imposed sanctions against 206 Russian people. Russian oligarchs' family members, close allies, and staff are among those targeted in the latest penalties. Maria Lavrova, the wife of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is one of the individuals sanctioned by the United Kingdom. The UK government has also announced the freezing of Maria Lavrova's assets as well as imposed a travel ban on her. 

China says anti-Russian sanctions will impact global economy

Last month, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned that anti-Russian sanctions will have a negative influence on the global economy's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and will harm all countries. He further stated that the global economy is already suffering from the pandemic's negative effects, and sanctions will further impede its recovery, which will be unprofitable for any country. He also stressed the need of maintaining the Russian-Ukraine dialogue process, saying that Beijing supports any measures that lead to a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict. 

Image: AP