SAP's days in Russia were numbered anyway due to Russian legislation.
It's not like SAP had a long term future in Russia anyway. El Reg previously posted a story on Russia was already banning foreign owned software in critical industries starting in 2025. The industries covered probably accounted for most or all of SAP's customer base there. I suspect this may have played a major factor in SAP's decision.
Russia bans foreign software purchases for critical infrastructure
https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/01/russia_bans_foreign_software/
In the mean time, the same legislation authorizes import and use of software without the copyright holder's permission if the company selling it has pulled out of the Russian market.
I imagine that someone somewhere will launder updates and support through a company located outside of Russia to cover the interim. This sort of thing already happens in the US for purely commercial reasons unrelated to Russia and has been the subject of lawsuits there by Oracle, if not others as well.
I suspect that SAP and other major Western companies realize they really have no future in the Russian market so they may as well plan an exit strategy now which still gives them potential for revenue from remaining customers in the interim.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
