Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram messenger, commented on the news about the removal of VPN apps from the Russian App Store.
“Apple just removed several VPN apps from the Russian App Store, including those that helped users bypass DPI-based censorship in Russia. That’s not cool, Apple,” Durov wrote on social network X, commenting on the techradar publication’s article.
In the replay Durov added that Apple “is on the side of Russian censorship because it is afraid of losing profits in the Russian market, but this is a very short-term strategy.”
On 28 March, it became known that several VPN-clients that can be used to bypass blockades are no longer available in the Russian App Store. The apps in question are Streisand, V2Box and v2RayTun. The developers of v2RayTun published a letter that they allegedly received from Apple. In it, the company says the app was removed from the App Store at the request of Roskomnadzor.
Earlier this week, Forbes, citing sources, reported that the Russian Ministry of Digital Media, on the instructions of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, asked telecom operators to charge customers for traffic when using VPN services. According to the publication, the head of the ministry, Maksut Shadaev, made the request at a closed meeting with telecom operators. It also requires online platforms to limit the possibility for customers to use their services via VPNs.