Russia Gets Apple to Turn Off App Store Payments
In a new support document, Apple said new purchases, in-app purchases, and subscription renewals are no longer available in Russia unless a user already has funds in their Apple Account balance, which can continue to be used.
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Apple reportedly took this action in response to an order from the Russian government, which allegedly hopes that the lost services revenue from Russian users will pressure the company to add some popular Russian apps back to the App Store, after those apps were removed due to sanctions arising from Russia’s war with Ukraine. The order would presumably end if Apple were to make those apps available again.
That reasoning doesn’t make sense to me.
Why is Russia doing this? Well, the (state-aligned) Russian news outlet RBC reported that government officials said it was to prevent users from paying for VPN apps. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that the country has stepped up its attack on the services as part of its “great crackdown” on online information and speech. By mid-January, it had reportedly blocked 70 percent more VPN apps than late last year.
The Russian authorities have deepened their crackdown on popular foreign apps and have begun periodically turning off mobile internet across the country, after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build up censorship technology that they plan to expand.
What follows is the testimony of an IT specialist living and working in Russia, describing what internet control looks like in practice in early 2026. They have worked in IT both for Russian and international companies for over 20 years, including software development, machine learning, and information security.
Matthew Luxmoore and Milàn Czerny:
The Kremlin has struggled for years to curb internet freedoms and curtail the reach of Western tech platforms that have amassed huge user bases inside Russia. A new Russian super-app is now making that goal possible.
Max is a messaging and e-commerce platform run by tech giant VK that is expanding to offer everything from taxi-hailing services to electronic passport wallets, modeled on China’s WeChat.
With full-throated government backing, Max is being pushed by pro-Kremlin celebrities as a safer equivalent to Telegram and WhatsApp, the popular messaging platforms now being throttled by Russian censors.
Previously:
- Sanctioned Entities Slip Through App Store Controls
- Russia Blocks FaceTime, Snapchat, and Roblox
- Apple Removes VPN Apps From Russian App Store
- No Bounty for Kaspersky
- Apple Halts Sales in Russia
