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Russia calls on Apple Inc. not to indulge Ukraine in regard to Russian apps

Kiev violates international obligations insisting on removal of Russian apps from AppStore, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

© Anton Novoderzhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Moscow has called on Apple Inc. not to follow Kiev’s orders that the apps of Russian media should be removed from AppStore, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Saturday.

"We call on Apple not to pander to the Ukrainian authorities and not to take any action that could actually transform the US IT corporation into an accomplice to Kiev’s crimes against freedom of speech," says the statement posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s site.

The Ukrainian Security Service’s (SBU) demand to Apple Inc. to take down the apps of Russian media outlets from Ukrainian AppStore demonstrates the repressive policy of Ukrainian authorities and proves that Kiev disregards its international obligations in the field of the freedom of expression, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"We view the demand of the Security Service of Ukraine to the US company Apple to remove apps of the Russian media outlets VGTRK, Rossiya Segodnya and NTV from Ukrainian AppStore as another manifestation of the Ukrainian authorities’ repressive policy towards the media," Zakharova said.

"With this act of political censorship, Kiev has acknowledged defying cynically the key democratic principles of the free movement of information and unhindered access to is, totally disregarding own international obligations in the field of the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression," she stressed.

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