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An election poster in Moscow (archive image): "Interference in the Russian elections" by US corporations?
Photo: MAXIM SHIPENKOV / EPA
The Russian authorities accuse Google and Apple of influencing the election.
The US corporations could be prosecuted for their refusal to block the app of the imprisoned opposition activist Alexei Navalny on their devices, announced the supervisory authority Roskomnadzor.
Should the app continue to be available in Russia, this could be seen as interference in the Russian elections and lead to high fines.
Roskomnadzor asked Google and Apple last month to stop offering Navalny's app in their smartphone app stores.
Now she has further increased the pressure: "Criminal liability is provided for the organization of and participation in the work of extremist organizations banned in Russia."
The Russian authorities had classified all organizations with ties to Navalny as "extremist".
Since then, supporters and donors of the Kremlin critic have been on a par with members of Islamist organizations such as the Islamic State (IS) or Al-Qaeda, and they face criminal prosecution.
Many of Navalny's confidants now live abroad or are under arrest, Navalny himself is currently serving two and a half years in a camp in a penal colony east of Moscow.
The app in question is intended to help form local opposition alliances against candidates from the ruling party "United Russia" in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
A spokeswoman for the State Department in Moscow complained that US corporations "systematically" ignored requests by Russian authorities to delete "illegal content".
"Such arrogant, selective behavior and demonstrative disregard for the multiple requests by authorized Russian structures regarding content classified as extremist is really no longer acceptable," she said.
"If anything can be described as 'meddling in the Russian elections,' then it is Roskomnadzor's attempts to block the smart voting app," a spokeswoman for Navalnys said on Twitter.
"Download it asap."
mic / afp
