Since the war in Ukraine started in 2022, multiple sectors have limited or completely halted sales of their products in Russia, Nintendo included. Nintendo stopped selling physical consoles and videogames in the country last year.

The eShop was also effectively unusable for the past year, because payment services such as PayPal had also stopped working in the region, and Nintendo placed the eShop “under maintenance”.

Now, Nintendo have officially halted operations of the eShop in Russia, but purchases already made will be able to be re-downloaded.

Nintendo of Europe shared the news in an email to publishers:

"As a result of the economic outlook, Nintendo of Europe has decided to wind down operations of its Russian subsidiary.

As part of our efforts to honor preceding commitments to our customers in the Russian market, the Russian version of Nintendo eShop will be set to offer limited service.

As of May 31, 2023, and for the foreseeable future, Russian customers with an existing Nintendo Account will be able to redownload digital content that they have previously purchased. It will not be possible to make any new purchases or use download codes within [the] Nintendo eShop in Russia."