Apple has said it will stop doing business in Russia as a response to the country’s war in Ukraine.
“We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence,” Apple said in a statement provided to Motherboard. “We are supporting humanitarian efforts, providing aid for the unfolding refugee crisis, and doing all we can to support our teams in the region.”
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“We have taken a number of actions in response to the invasion. We have paused all product sales in Russia. Last week, we stopped all exports into our sales channel in the country,” Apple said. “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. And we have disabled both traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens.”
The actions taken by Apple come a day after Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov sent a public letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking him to take action. “Do everything possible to protect Ukraine, Europe, and Finally, the entire democratic world from bloody authoritarian aggression—stop supplying Apple services and products to the Russian federation, including blocking access to the App Store,” Fedorov said in his letter.
Apple had already previously cut off Apple Pay access to some Russian banks several days ago. At this time it’s unclear if Russian Apple devices will continue to receive updates or if those in Russia with developer accounts will be able to access them.
“We will continue to evaluate the situation and are in communication with relevant governments on the actions we are taking,” Apple said. “We join all those around the world who are calling for peace.”
