Apple explained the removal of VK services from the App Store

MOSCOW, 28 Sep — PRIME. The removal of VK services from the App Store is due to sanctions from the UK, Apple spokesman Adam Dema told The Verge.

On Monday, many VK applications, including VK Play, “VK Music”, “VK Clips”, “VK Messenger”, “VK Admin”, as well as “Mail․ru Mail” and “Mail.ru Cloud” stopped appearing when searching in the App Store. VK confirmed the removal of several applications from the marketplace, but noted that all previously installed services continue to work as usual. Earlier Wednesday, Roskomnadzor demanded that Apple explain the reasons for the removal of Russian applications from the App Store, including VK, Sberbank, VTB and Aeroflot.

“These applications (VK – ed.) are distributed by developers, most of which are owned or controlled by one or more parties that are under the sanctions of the UK government,” Dema said.

“To comply with these sanctions, Apple has removed the developer accounts associated with these apps, and apps cannot be downloaded from the App Store…regardless of location. Users who have already downloaded these apps can continue to use them,” Dema explained.