The iPhone maker said it has paused all product sales in Russia and last week stopped all exports into its sales channel in the country. Sales channels include resellers of Apple products, such as big-box retailers and websites. Apple Pay and other services have been limited. RT News and Sputnik News are no longer available for download from the App Store outside Russia, it said.
Apple has also disabled both traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens, it said. Google similarly restricted its Maps features this weekend.
Apple’s move came after Ukraine digital transformation minister Mykhailo Fedorov sent a letter late last week to Apple chief executive Tim Cook, asking the company to stop supplying Apple services to Russia and to block the App Store within the country.
“But we need your support — in 2022, modern technology is perhaps the best answer to the tanks, multiple rocket launchers (hrad) and missiles,” he wrote in the letter.
Apple is the latest company to impose restrictions in Russia — its moves came after major social media companies including YouTube, Facebook and TikTok moved to ban Russian state media outlets in Europe. Other Western companies, including Shell and General Motors, announced plans this week to end or freeze their dealings with the country. Companies are reacting both to comply with U.S. and European government sanctions against Russia, as well as oppose Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Apple has long had a complicated relationship with Russia and other countries led by authoritarian regimes. In September, Apple gave in to pressure from Roskomnadzor, the Russian censorship agency, when it removed a “Smart Voting” app in that country. The app helped voters opposed to Putin cast ballots in a way that would prevent splitting opposition support among multiple candidates and handing victory to the Putin candidate.
Apple’s decision Tuesday to stand up to Putin is a rare stance for a company that usually abides by local laws, even in countries where the application of the laws are criticized by human rights advocates.
In October 2019, during anti-China protests in Hong Kong, Apple removed the flag of Taiwan, a country China does not recognize, from the emoji offered in its keyboard and banned the media outlet Quartz, which had covered the protests. It also removed HKMap.live, which Hong Kong protesters had used to evade police officers. At the time, Apple spokesman Fred Sainz defended those moves, saying it had heard from police in Hong Kong that the app had been used to ambush police.
The nature of Apple’s business, which requires a physical presence in many places around the world, complicates things when it faces pressure to stand up to human rights abuses. For instance, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Apple is supplied by 10 smelters in Russia, producing gold, tungsten and tantalum used in products like the iPhone.
Apple isn’t the largest smartphone company in Russia. In 2021, it came in third behind Samsung and Xiaomi, according to data from market research firm IDC. Samsung shipped 10.5 million phones to the country last year, while Apple shipped just 4.9 million. Samsung did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Heather Kelly contributed to this report.
