Apple Stops Al Product Sales and Exports in Russia, Limits Apple Pay
Apple announced on Tuesday that it is stopping all product sales in Russia in light of the country’s decision to launch an assault on Ukraine.
“We are very concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with the people who are suffering as a result of the violence. We are supporting humanitarian efforts, providing aid for the unfolding refugee crisis, and doing all we can to support our teams in the region,” the iPhone parent said in a statement.
The iPhone maker said it had paused all product sales in Russia and stopped all exports into its sales channel in Russia last week. Sales channels include resellers of Apple products, such as big-box retailers and websites.
Apple Pay and other services have been limited, while Sputnik News and RT News are no longer accessible for download from the App Store outside Russia.
Apple joins several other tech giants in taking drastic steps in response to the news around the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation, first announced the news on Telegram, noting that Apple had stopped selling its technology in its official online store in Russia.
Earlier this week, Fedorov also noted that some Ukrainian music companies appealed directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook to determine whether they would allow Ukrainian music artists to change their album covers.
The tech giant also restricted traffic and live incidents in Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens. Google similarly terminated its Maps features this weekend in the country.
“To show the truth about the situation in Ukraine, we ask for permission to put this picture (or similar ones) instead of album covers of Ukrainian musicians and artists,” the companies said, sharing a photo of a teal and yellow image with Ukrainian text.
In parallel, the company asked to block Apple Music accounts of Russian artists who support the war and Putin’s aggressive actions, such as Nikolai Baskov, Leonid Agutin, Prokhor Shalyapin, and others.