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Kremlin affirms neither Putin, nor his administration use Zoom for official purposes

Zoom was used for a number of international contacts that were organized by other countries, according to the presidential press secretary

© Alexei Druzhinin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. Both President Vladimir Putin and his presidential staff do not use Zoom video service for official purposes, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

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"The President himself does not use Zoom for his numerous daily video conference calls. In our daily work routine, we [Kremlin employees - TASS] do not use Zoom either," Peskov affirmed.

However, he added that Zoom had been used for a number of international contacts initiated by other countries.

"We do not have an account and we’ve never had any contractual relationship with Zoom, nor do we have any need for this," he assured.

Peskov explained that the Kremlin has closed communication channels to hold videoconferences.

Earlier, Kommersant daily reported that Zoom Video Communications had prohibited its distributors from selling its online conference services to government agencies and state-owned firms in Russia and former Soviet countries. The newspaper cited a letter by RightConf, Zoom’s distributor in Russia and the CIS, to its partners dated March 31.

According to the letter, Zoom Video Communications Inc. is revoking its Russian partner's authorization to sell services to state agencies and companies with government beneficiaries. Reports say that RightConf CEO Andrei Petrenko confirmed the authenticity of the letter to Kommersant. He also specified that the restrictions apply not only to Russia, but also to CIS countries. That said, Petrenko said that his company would continue working according to existing contracts.

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