Google and Apple remove the Navalny app from stores at the start of the Russian elections

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google and Apple have removed from their stores the tactical voting app of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his team said Friday after Russia accused U.S. tech companies of meddling in its internal affairs.

Russia goes to the polls on Friday to elect a new parliament in a three-day vote that the ruling United Russia party is expected to win despite a slump in ratings after the biggest crackdown on Kremlin critics in years.

The allies of Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest domestic opponent, had planned to use the mobile app to organize a tactical voting campaign to deal a blow to United Russia.

Russia asked Apple and Google this month to remove the app from their stores, saying a refusal to do so would be treated as meddling in its parliamentary election.

Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Thursday, Russia said official approaches have been taken to the CEOs of the two companies.

Ivan Zhdanov, a Navalny ally based abroad, said on Friday that the removal amounted to political censorship.

(Reporting by Anton Zverev and Alexander Marrow; Written by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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