It was both. There were targeted sanctions against powerful individuals, the government, and certain Russian industries, but lawmakers and public opinion also explicitly urged sanctions/private withdrawals from Russia from organizations that were providing service to the country to protest the war.

I'm sure that preventing average everyday Russians from using Grammarly is going to have a material impact on Vladimir Putin's executive decisions.

I mean, yeah? He wants to stay in power, so he needs the population to support him and his supporters enough that they don't violently overthrow him. Objectively, do you think him being overthrown is more likely if:

a) there are no sanctions against stuff like this

b) there are sanctions against stuff like this

I honestly don't think it matters to an autocrat whether the largely powerless people he doesn't care about can or can't access a web site. But judging by the votes, this is an unpopular opinion. The HN Tribe Has Spoken though and I accept its verdict.

You basically can't send or receive money with any russian person or institution right now.

It's not the whole country, but as a practical matter it's difficult for small companies like Grammarly to determine whether any customers are on the official list of sanctioned entities. Since they probably receive very little revenue from Russia it's safer from a legal compliance standpoint to just block the entire country.

There are also some practical problems with getting payments out of Russia.

This reminds me of an old Russian saying: "It's like trying to shear a pig: too much squealing, not enough wool."

As an American entity or an entity that does business with the US Government, you are required to get a license to transfer goods of almost any sort within Russia. [1]

The current recommendation from the American Bar Association is to destroy any goods remaining in Russia instead of trying to liquidate them for cash. If you're an American business leaving an office behind, smash the computers and the phones before you leave because you'll need a license to transfer them. If you leave them behind, that's considered a transfer too. It's a very easy way to make sure your company is bankrupt and you're blacklisted from ever importing or exporting anything ever again. Likely you will get extra super special secondary screening at the airport just for fun.

[1] https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/country-gu...