Several Western companies have left or ceased operations in Russia in the months after the outbreak of the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, the Russian government is not letting them go without a fight and is extracting money from them in the form of fines.
According to Reuters, Russia’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has filed lawsuits against Apple, Airbnb, Google, likeme, Pinterest, Twitch, and UPS for failing to comply with Russian law.
Google was fined $46,000 last year for keeping personal data outside of Russian territory, and it is now expected to face another penalties ranging between $90,000 and $270,000. However, Google may be able to get away with this for the time being because it just declared bankruptcy in Russia after the authorities seized its bank account.
It is likely to be the same situation for the other six western companies. Russian authorities are unhappy with how they keep Russian consumers’ personal data outside of the country and might just use this to fight the sanctions and extract some cash from the above-mentioned companies.
1 Pingback