Apple has removed apps en masse in Russia
In 2025, Apple significantly stepped up the removal of apps from the Russian App Store, taking down over a thousand apps at the request of the Russian regulator. This marked the largest number of removals since the start of the war and significantly exceeded the figures from previous years, according to Russian media reports.
In 2025, Apple removed 1,213 apps from the Russian App Store in response to requests from the Russian agency responsible for monitoring and censoring online content.
As noted, this is the highest figure since the start of the full-scale war and a significant jump compared to previous years, indicating increased pressure on international tech companies from Russian regulators.
Apple does not publish a full list of the removed apps, but such requests typically target programs related to VPN services and tools for bypassing blocks, which allow users to access banned resources.
As a result, the Russian digital services market continues to become increasingly isolated, and international platforms are forced to balance compliance with local laws against their own policies on access to information.
Russia has once again tightened restrictions on alcohol imports from Armenia, banning the sale of several popular brands of wine and cognac.
