Russian Government Blocks AppStore Ahead Of Parliamentary Elections, Here's The Reason

The Russian government shuts down the internet ahead of parliamentary elections. (photo: doc: unsplash)

JAKARTA - Some mobile phone users in Russia were unable to download updates from the AppStore on Monday, 12 September. Apple also reported this cut off, as authorities in Russia tried to block a banned tactical voting app ahead of this week's parliamentary election.

The Kremlin is cracking down on online resources linked to jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny and the technology used to circumvent online bans, which have caused massive internet blackouts for the Russian public ahead of the September 17-19 elections.

State communications regulator Roskomnadzor has told several US companies, including Apple, to stop providing the Navalny team with the means to bypass its blocking attempts. The app was banned because Navalny's movement was banned as an extremist this summer.

Navalny's team on Monday said many people were reporting problems downloading their apps. They want to use the app to organize and control a tactical voting campaign to deal a blow to the ruling United Russia party, without the help of virtual private networks.

"Roskomnadzor has broken the installation of app updates from the AppStore in Russia," wrote Navalny ally Leonid Volkov on Telegram.

Roskomnadzor did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that its blocking attempts were causing the problem.

Apple Support in Russia indicates that the AppStore outage has occurred between 11.00 (08.00 GMT) and 17.10, during which time it says users may be experiencing problems with the service. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.