EU and US sanctions on Russia because of invading Crimea. Access to domain names in Crimea was hampered. Reportedly, the US general licenses did not apply to domain name registration services.
About The Co-Author

Angie Orejuela
Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Diplomacy and focuses her writing on how digital technologies affect global politics.For the past 3 years, she has also worked as a Microsoft Inside Account Manager for the North East, higher education region at SHI International.