Apple Removes VK, Mail.ru, and Several Other Apps from App Store; Microsoft Imposes Restrictions

On Monday, many VK applications, including VK Play, VK Music, VK Clips, and VK Messenger, as well as Mail.ru Mail and Mail.ru Cloud, ceased to appear in App Store searches. VK has confirmed the removal of several apps from the market, but the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation has stated that all previously installed services continue to operate as usual.

“The Ministry of Digital Development has sent a request to Apple Inc. regarding the reasons for the deletion of VK applications and developers’ accounts, paying special attention to the social significance and the scale of use of Russian company services. An action plan will be developed after receiving an official response,” the report states.

It is noteworthy that Microsoft has also imposed restrictions, limiting updates for Russian users, according to Russian news sources.