Vratislav Holub Russia is gradually becoming an increasingly isolated country. The whole world is gradually distancing itself from the Russian Federation due to its aggression in Ukraine, which resulted in a series of sanctions and the overall closure of the Russian Federation as such. Of course, not only individual states did so, but also some of the largest companies in the world decided to take drastic steps. McDonald's, PepsiCo, Shell and many others left the Russian market.
Apple was one of the first companies to limit some of its products and services to the Russian Federation in March 2022, shortly after the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. But it didn't end there - other changes in the relationship between Apple and the Russian Federation took place during the last months. In this article, we will therefore focus together on the most important things that have specifically changed between them. Individual events are listed chronologically from oldest to most recent.
App Store, Apple Pay and Sales Restrictions
As we mentioned in the very introduction, Apple joined other companies that were the first to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, back in March 2022. In the first phase, Apple removed the RT News and Sputnik News applications from the official App Store, which are thus not available to anyone outside the Russian Federation. From this move, Apple promises to moderate the propaganda from Russia, which it can broadcast potentially around the world. There was also a significant limitation of the Apple Pay payment method. But as it turned out later, it still worked (more or less) normally for the Russians thanks to MIR payment cards.
Apple brought this ailment to an end only at the end of March 2022, when it completely stopped using Apple Pay. As we mentioned in the paragraph above, the previous ban was circumvented by using MIR payment cards. MIR is owned by the Central Bank of Russia and was founded in 2014 as a response to sanctions following the annexation of Crimea. Google also decided to take the same step, which also prevented the use of cards issued by the MIR company. Practically since the beginning of the war, the Apple Pay payment service has been severely limited. With this also came the limitation of other services, such as Apple Maps.
At the same time, Apple stopped selling new products through official channels. But don't be fooled. The fact that the sale has ended does not mean that Russians cannot buy new Apple products. Apple continued to export.
Definitive stop of exports to Russia
Apple decided to take a very fundamental step at the beginning of March 2023, i.e. a year after the start of the war. The company has announced that it is definitively ending the Russian market and putting an end to all exports to the country. As we mentioned a little above, although Apple stopped officially selling its products practically at the very beginning, it still allowed them to be imported into the Russian Federation. That has definitely changed. Practically the whole world reacted to this change. According to a number of analysts, this is a relatively bold step that a company of this scale has decided to take.
At the same time, it is necessary to take into account that Apple will lose money. Although, according to analyst Gene Munster, Russia accounts for only 2% of Apple's global revenue, it is necessary to take into account how big Apple actually is. In the end, therefore, huge sums of money are involved.
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Adam Kos Partial ban on iPhones in Russia
Apple phones are globally considered to be some of the most secure ever, both in terms of hardware and especially in software. As part of iOS, we can find a number of security functions with the aim of protecting users from threats and taking care of their privacy. However, according to current reports, this is not enough for the Russian Federation. Currently, reports have begun to appear about a partial ban on the use of iPhones in Russia. This was reported by the renowned Reuters agency, according to which the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergey Kiriyenko, informed officials and politicians about a rather fundamental step. From April 1, there is to be a definitive ban on the use of iPhones for work purposes.
This is supposed to happen due to relatively strong concerns that spies do not remotely hack into iPhones and thus spy on representatives of the Russian Federation and the officials themselves. At one of the meetings it was even said: "iPhones are over. Either throw them away or give them to the kids.But as we mentioned above, iPhones are considered to be among the most secure phones worldwide. It is therefore a question whether the same case will not also affect phones with the Android operating system. It is also important to mention that this information has not yet been officially confirmed by the Russian side.
