VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru, and a number of other Russian applications have disappeared from the App Store.
Russian media were the first to draw attention to this, and Babel confirmed this information.
The applications "Zen", VK Video, "VK Messenger", VK Music and "VK Dating" have also disappeared. They all belong to the Russian holding company VK.
Apple has not yet officially commented on the decision to remove them from the store. The Russian Ministry of Digital Affairs responded to the situation: they speak of a “politically motivated decision” and “a manifestation of unfair competition”.
In early June, the Max messenger, which is positioned as a “national messenger” in Russia, disappeared from the App Store in the same way. Apple stated at the time that Max was removed from the App Store “in accordance with sanctions compliance rules”.
- In Ukraine, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, and a number of other Russian services and sites were banned in 2017. Since then, the decision has been extended several times.
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