Ecosystem programs such as “VK Music”, “VK Clips”, “VK Messenger”, “VK Play” and “VK Admin” are banned. The bulletin board “Mail.ru” and “Yula” was also deleted.

Why did Apple do it

As The Verge found out, everyone The app has been removed from the App Store due to British sanctions.That Apple plans to follow.

The company’s representative, Adam Dema, said that the VK apps are distributed by a company that most of its managers and owners are sanctioned by the British government. As a result, the developer’s account was shut down and the apps were removed from the worldwide store.

Previously downloaded apps will remain on the devices and users can continue to use them, but may now experience issues with notifications and payments.

As a reminder, the programs of the VK holding disappeared from the App Store on September 26. Earlier today, Great Britain, in response to fictitious “referendums”, sanctioned 23 directors of Gazprombank, which, together with Gazprom-media (owner of VK), is part of the Gazprom holding. At the same time, Vladimir Kiriyenko, head of VK close to Putin, has been under US sanctions since February 2022.

Russia’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has undertaken its own investigation into the reasons for the deletion.