The artificial intelligence-based translation platform DeepL has become inaccessible to users in Russia and Belarus.
When attempting to access the service, users now encounter a message stating: “This service is not available in your region.”
According to The Moscow Times on June 18, both the web version and the mobile application of DeepL have stopped functioning in these countries. The company has not issued an official statement explaining the reasons behind the restriction.
DeepL was launched in 2017 by Polish entrepreneur Jaroslaw Kutylowski and is headquartered in Cologne, Germany. The platform is widely known for its use of neural network technology, which allows for more accurate and natural-sounding translations—particularly for technical, legal, and business content.
As of 2025, the company’s estimated valuation exceeds $1 billion, and it has secured €100 million in investments from European venture capital firms including Atomico, Bessemer Venture Partners, and IVP. DeepL reports a global user base of over 500 million people.
Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, DeepL added Ukrainian to its list of supported languages—marking it as the 29th available language on the platform.
At the time, the company stated that Ukrainian had quickly become one of the most requested languages, prompting an accelerated development and rollout process.
Earlier, on May 27, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that Western tech companies like Microsoft and Zoom should be “choked” for leaving the Russian market. Speaking at a business meeting, he accused them of trying to “suffocate” Russia and called for mirrored retaliation.
