Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the top-selling company Apple stopped selling all of its products in Russia. the company said that they were deeply concerned about the Russian invasion and for the same they paused all product sales in Russia on March 2022.
After that, there has been recent news that Apple is now pulling off Russian apps from its App Stores including VKontakte – a Russian alternative to Facebook, although it is still available in desktop and mobile browsers.
Along with VKontake, Apple has also removed other apps such as Mail.ru, VK Music, and Youla. If you’ve already downloaded the app on your phone you can still use them, even though the notifications and payments maybe get affected but new users won’t be able to download the apps.
According to Apple, the removals were undertaken to comply with the most recent UK sanctions against Russia. Apple confirmed this to CNN Business. The UK government announced on Monday that it was going after dozens of Russian elites in response to Russia’s “illegal sham referendums in Ukraine,” which were meant to show support for Ukraine’s union with Russia.
Apple claims that the majority of the owners or controllers of the companies behind the apps removed our bodies recognized by the UK government. Apple claims that these developer accounts were terminated to adhere to UK sanctions.
