Apple suspends Russia, as the mobile phone and IT giant joins the growing list of companies suspending Russia from its services, as it announced the products will no longer be sold in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine by Putin.
“We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with all those who suffer as a result of this violence,” Apple said in a statement.
The statement by Apple continued:
“We have taken a number of measures in response to the invasion” continues the text. “We suspended all product sales in Russia. Last week we stopped all exports to our sales channel in the country”‘
The IT giant Apple suspends Russian state media apps RT and Sputnik from its online store too.
Apple also disabled the function allowing live reports of incidents on Apple Maps in Ukraine “as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens”.
“We will continue to assess the situation and are in communication with the affected governments on the actions we are taking,” Apple said in its message.
The group is thus following the example of other companies that have chosen to disengage from Russia, under severe economic sanctions.
From the United States, for example, General Motors suspended its car exports to Russia, the Warner Bros cinema studio announced that it was “pausing” the release of the latest version of Batman in Russia while several giants tech companies have taken steps to limit the influence of media close to Russian power.
The American issuers of Visa and Mastercard payment cards have also indicated that they have taken steps to implement the sanctions imposed on Russia, notably preventing Russian banks from using their network.