- Apple removed 98 VPN apps from its Russian App Store, far surpassing official reports.
- Apple products remain in high demand in Russia, despite sanctions and hefty price markups.
- Kremlin officials secretly use VPNs, despite ongoing censorship efforts to block access.
Apple has removed nearly 100 VPN applications from its App Store in Russia, far exceeding the 25 VPNs reported by Russia’s censorship agency, Roskomnadzor. Virtual private networks (VPNs) allow users to bypass government blocks on specific sites, including independent media and foreign social networks. The GreatFire project reports that 60 VPNs were taken down in the last three months, sparking accusations that Apple is enabling government censorship by removing these crucial tools without transparency.
Although Apple officially left the Russian market after the invasion of Ukraine, its products are still widely available. iPhones and other devices are being imported through third countries like Turkey and China, and demand for Apple products remains high. Despite sanctions, resale companies continue to bring in Apple goods, and consumers are willing to pay steep markups—some as high as 33%—due to supply restrictions and import challenges.
This removal of VPNs comes at a time when Russian citizens increasingly rely on these tools to access banned websites like Facebook and Instagram. Despite the risk of legal repercussions, even Kremlin officials, including President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, admit to using VPNs. Peskov downplayed the threat of penalties for VPN use, although Roskomnadzor continues efforts to block access to VPN services.
Tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google still operate in a gray area in Russia. Although they have pledged to exit the market, many of their services, such as Google Ads and Gmail, were available until recently. The Kremlin, meanwhile, has legalized parallel imports to keep Western technology flowing into the country, despite international sanctions and its public promises to replace these products with Russian-made alternatives.
Russian authorities play a contradictory game when it comes to internet freedom. While banning VPNs and restricting access to social media platforms, the government and its supporters still use these networks to spread their messaging, both domestically and internationally. Platforms like YouTube continue to serve as a key medium for pro-Russian propaganda, despite being slowed down by the government.
